Why Obesity in Parents Matters

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.