Baby-boomers ‘pass on bad lifestyle habits to grandchildren’

Baby-boomers are passing on bad lifestyle habits to their grandchildren, which is increasing the prevalence of obesity, an expert has suggested.

Dr Melinda Sothern, a paediatric weight expert from Louisiana State University's Health Sciences Center, has published a paper on the subject.

She claims that prenatal tobacco use, infant formula, and frequent pregnancies created "the first generation of nutritionally-programmed youth – the baby-boomers".

"Now in their 50s and 60s, this generation has the highest prevalence of obesity in history, triple that of their parents," Dr Sothern writes in her paper.

She went on to say that their children then followed this pattern and became overweight too.

Dr Sothern suggested that, to put a stop to this cycle, intense counselling relating to nutrition and physical activity should be given to children from a very young age.

Women who gained a lot of weight when they were pregnant can lose this if they are persistent with their exercise routines, celebrity fitness trainer Steve Halsall recently claimed.

Will you be able to stop your children from adopting your bad habits when it comes to exercise and diet?