Study Links Parental Obesity to Developmental Delays in Children

A new study from National Institutes of Health researchers suggests that parental obesity is linked to developmental delays in children. The study, published this month in Pediatrics, found that by age 3, children of obese mothers (with a body mass index of 30 or more) had a 70 percent higher likelihood of failing a fine motor skills test compared to kids of normal-weight mothers (or those with a body mass index of less than 25). Children of obese fathers had a 75 percent higher chance of failing that test.