Can fat adults blame their kids?

With Christmas only just over, most parents will know all about pester power. And if a child can persuade us to buy a £200 games consul, why not a £10 pizza?

A US study has found that adults living with children tend to eat more fat. The interesting question is why?

Over 6,600 adults featured in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine survey. It found that adults with children in their home ate on average 4.9 grams of fat more every day than adults living without children. Of this 1.7 grams was saturated fat, the fat most-closely linked with heart disease. Their diet was higher in convenience foods like pizza and salty snacks.

This is a big difference: the equivalent in weight of an additional pizza of saturated fat every week.

The authors recommended more work to investigate the causes behind the link. Lead researcher Helena Laroche, from the University of Iowa, stressed: 'the study does not prove that the presence of children causes adults to eat more fat; people living with children may have different eating habits for many reasons.'

They suggest reasons such as time pressures, advertising aimed at children that also includes adults, or adults' perception that children will eat only 'hotdogs or macaroni and cheese'.

Ms Laroche said: 'Once these foods are in the house, even if bought for the children, adults appear more likely to eat them.'

Dr David Haslam of the National Obesity Forum told the BBC: 'We are leading our children astray and going along with them, falling into the same trap by having crisps when they have crisps. It is difficult if your child leaves a triangle of pizza from their lunch not to gobble it down, but put it in the bin. You can see why it happens.'

The investigators recommended more research into whether the ages of the children has any bearing. The current study looked at adults ages 17 to 65 living with and without children aged under 17.

The authors also stressed changes to habits needed to focus on the entire household, not just individuals.