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Why Obesity in Parents Matters

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Parental Obesity: Intergenerational Programming and Consequences

Part of the book series: Physiology in Health and Disease ((PIHD))

Abstract

Promoting the best possible environment for early human development offers one of the greatest missed opportunities today for improving global health, human productivity and longevity. Overweight and obesity in parents and parents-to-be are not only associated with poorer health prospects for this section of the population in the future, but also pass the risk of overweight and obesity to their children. This calls for a new initiative to improve the health of current and prospective parents, commencing with adolescent girls and women of reproductive age, but also their partners.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Developmental Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Mark Hanson

  2. NIHR Nutrition Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospital Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Mark Hanson

Authors
  1. Mark Hanson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark Hanson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Developmental Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom

    Lucy R. Green

  2. Medical Center, The University of Mississippi, Jackson, Mississippi, USA

    Robert L. Hester

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© 2016 The American Physiological Society

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Hanson, M. (2016). Why Obesity in Parents Matters. In: Green, L., Hester, R. (eds) Parental Obesity: Intergenerational Programming and Consequences. Physiology in Health and Disease. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6386-7_1

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