Children who have a poor emotional relationship with their mother are more than twice as likely to become obese¹, research claims.

研究表明，母子感情糟糕的儿童得肥胖症的几率是母子感情很好的儿童的两倍多。

A study found toddlers who struggle with their mothers are at higher risk of being grossly overweight by the time they are 15. Those who had the worst emotional relationship were almost two-and-half times more likely to be obese at 15 than those with a strong bond. Meanwhile, only 13 per cent who had close bonds in their formative years became obese.

一项研究发现，学步阶段与母亲关系很差劲的儿童，到了15岁时，更容易超重。那些与母亲感情最差劲的儿童，到了15岁时肥胖的得病几率几乎是那些与母亲关系十分亲密的儿童的两倍半多。与此同时，成长期间与母亲关系密切的儿童的肥胖得病率只有13%。

U.S. researchers studied nearly 1,000 toddlers and their mothers at play then rated how strong the bond was between mother and child. The participants were then assessed for obesity² at 15.

美国研究人员研究了近1000对正在一起玩游戏的母子，然后评定了母子关系的亲疏程度。当被调查的儿童到了15岁时，研究人员对他们进行了肥胖评估。

The prevalence of obesity in adolescence³ was 26.1 per cent among children with the poorest early maternal-child relationships according to the research, which will appear in the online Journal of Paediatrics next month.

根据这项研究，早期母子关系最差劲的儿童，青春期时肥胖患病率为26.1%，这一结论将会刊登在下个月的儿科学在线杂志上。

Ohio State University epidemiology professor Sarah Anderson said eating comfort food throughout childhood could be linked to youngsters not being given the right tools to deal with stress. She said: ‘It is possible childhood obesity could be influenced by interventions⁴ that try to improve the emotional bonds between mothers and children rather than focusing only on children’s food intake⁵ and activity. ‘We need to think about how we can support better-quality maternal-child relationships because that could have an impact on child health. A well-regulated stress response could influence how well children sleep and whether they eat in response to emotional distress⁶ – just two factors that affect the likelihood for obesity.’

美国俄亥俄州立大学的流行病学教授萨拉安德森说，儿童通过食物来抚慰自己可能与他们找不到合适的方式来处理压力有关。她说：“与关注孩子们的饮食和活动相比，可能尝试去改善母子间的关系对儿童期肥胖的影响更大。我们需要思考怎样才能提供更优质的母子关系，因为这影响到儿童的健康。良好的压力反应会影响到儿童在面对情绪困扰时睡眠有多好，是否会吃饭，而这正是影响肥胖得病率的两个因素。”