There are plenty of societal ills that our poor mums and dads get the blame for.
Now there could be one more to add to the list as a new study suggests that a person’s parents could be behind their emotional eating.
It found that parents who use food to soothe their kids’ emotions are setting their children up for a lifetime of bad habits as they’re more likely to become “emotional eaters” as adults.
Researchers looked at school-going Norwegian children and concluded that kids whose parents offered them food to soothe them at age 4 and 6 were more likely to emotionally eat at ages 8 and 10, reports Refinery29.
“Such behaviour can increase the risk for being overweight and developing eating disorders,” commented Dr Silje Steinsbekk, one of the researchers on the study.
While a single study is not definitive proof, we’re sure that most of us remember a time where we were given a treat to cheer us up or even keep us quiet so maybe there is some truth in the findings.
