Carbohydrate intake, family environment and childhood obesity

Obesity is a disease that predisposes to other chronic non-communicable diseases and has reached alarming epidemic rates in recent decades, posing a threat to public health. In this context, many eating habits and lifestyle behaviors are evaluated for their association with obesity. This review aims to investigate the relationship between carbohydrate consumption and body weight, in the light of family environment, that influence children’s dietary preferences. The data presented are the result from a search on the PubMed database and focus mainly on childhood obesity, however, they also provide data on the adult population Carbohydrates, as part of the human diet, provide energy to the body. Their consumption is examined quantitatively and qualitatively, with the results showing sometimes positive or negative correlations with various health indicators, including body weight. As far as the family environment is concerned, its influence is a result of social, economic, demographic factors, family development and parenting practices. The health risks, the multifactorial background and the difficulty of dealing with obesity, make it difficult to identify causal associations that are attributed to any of the individual factors.