Is Second-Hand Eating as Dangerous as Second-Hand Smoke? You Be the Judge.

I recently read an article that started out: “Obesity now poses as great a threat to Americans’ quality of life as smoking, a new study shows.”  The article went on to say that in the past 15 years, the number of smokers has decreased while the proportion of obese Americans has increased. “Obesity,” the researchers noted, “had a larger effect on disease, while smoking had a great impact on deaths.”  And both have a serious impact on health care costs. But the results of the study showed that “quality-adjusted life years lost to obesity are equal to, or greater than, those lost because of smoking.”

You can find the whole article in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Check it out. But what I found most interesting were the comments I read online in reference to the article. There was a lot of chatter about smoking and over-eating, but I question the comment that read,  “Nobody’s ever died of second-hand eating, have they?”

It made me think. I’m not sure I totally agree with that statement. Look around you… overweight parents often seem to have overweight children. In fact, studies show that 64% of children with overweight parents became overweight, as compared to 16% of children with normal-weight parents. Obviously, there are many factors involved here, including genetics. But several studies on this topic show that the link between obese parents with obese children is more often a result of behavior rather than genetics. Does that actually describe “second-hand eating?” The studies did prove that children eat based on what they are offered and the influences or examples – good or bad – set by their parents. I’ve written about the importance of being a good role model for your child when it comes to both diet and physical activity. Isn’t it time you put aside what you learned about eating from your parents and try to be the best role model you can be for the next generation?

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