Preschoolers with poor eating habits have greater risk of heart disease as adults, study finds -

Preschoolers with poor eating habits have greater risk of heart disease as adults, study finds - 

You are what you eat. And where and how.
A new study says the way preschoolers eat — at the table or in front of a television — is just as important to their health as the types of foods they consume.
“What we’re really trying to do is promote healthy behaviours in young children that prevent things like heart attacks or strokes later on” says Dr. Navindra Persaud a family physician at St. Michael’s Hospital and the lead researcher for the study, Association between serum cholesterol and eating behaviours during early childhood, released June 17 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
For this study, researchers looked at 1,076 children ages 3 to 5 recruited from seven primary care practices in Toronto between 2008 and 2011.
Parents filled out questionnaires assessing eating behaviours such as television and computer screen time while eating, dietary intake, parental concerns about activity level and growth and supplements.
Researchers, who controlled for other factors that could impact the result, compared eating habits and serum levels of non–high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol which is a key marker of later cardiovascular risk.
“We wanted to make sure that the relationship we found was really actually proven by eating behaviours and not by some other factor” Persaud says. “We found a stronger relationship between eating behaviours and cholesterol than between recorded intake and cholesterol.”
Curbing those behaviours is not always easy, says Guelph mother Tanya Bendo. Her kids, Talyssa, 3, and Liam, 5, love eating in front of the tube.
“I don’t always let them but if they can get away with it, that is their preference,” she says.
The trouble with watching television while eating, says Persaud, is that people pay less attention to the cues that tell them when they’ve had enough. They also eat less variety, he adds.
“If they’re eating in front of the TV they’re just kind of shovelling it in their mouth” he says.
Drinking juice or snacking all day are among the other bad habits that can ruin mealtimes, he says, adding those early routines tend to become patterns in life.
Heather St. Bernard-John, a registered dietitian and nutrition consultant for the early years with Toronto Public Health, says parents must be good role models for their kids.
Having regular meals and snacks, following Canada’s food guide, dishing out appropriate portions and eating as a family are all important tips for promoting healthy eating habits, she says.
“Involve the children in food shopping and preparing,” suggests St. Bernard-John. “You can use it as a teaching moment for them.”
Making food fun can also entice kids to eat well. Focus on the colours of a rainbow, present food in different shapes and make up silly names for items. If your child has refused a certain food, she recommends offering it again another time.
“Our results support previous arguments for interventions aimed at improving the eating behaviours of preschool-aged children,” the authors of the story write. “To do so, evidence suggests promoting responsive feeding, where adults provide appropriate access to healthy foods and children use internal cues (not parent-directed cues or cues from the television) to determine the timing, pace and amount they consume.”
Further research will look at whether eating behaviours are linked to other health problems like diabetes, insulin and glucose levels and hormones, Persaud says. They will also find ways to teach family doctors to promote healthy eating habits.

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http://www.thestar.com/life/parent/2013/06/17/preschoolers_with_poor_eating_habits_have_greater_risk_of_heart_disease_as_adults_study_findss.html