Key Takeaways

Early childhood obesity programs that focus on parents don’t work, a new evidence review finds

The programs had no impact on children’s weight at age 2

The programs focus on building parents’ skills and knowledge of nutrition, exercise and sleep

THURSDAY, Sept. 11, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Programs that recruit parents to help fight early childhood obesity aren’t doing much good at all, a new evidence review says.

There’s no evidence that these programs have any impact on the body mass index (BMI) of toddlers, researchers reported in The Lancet . BMI is an estimate of body fat based on height and weight.

In short, it's not fair to ask new parents – scrambling and stressed as they are — to counter the societal and cultural forces that increase kids’ risk of excess w

See Full Page