Study: stressed mothers may raise fat children

BEIJING, Sept. 3 -- Millions of poor children in the United States may be getting fat before age 10 because their mothers are stressed out and the youngsters seek escape in unhealthy comfort food, researchers said on Tuesday.

The stress is rooted in poverty and can be brought on by money woes, work loads, insufficient health insurance and other factors, said Craig Gundersen of the University of Illinois, who led the study.

"People will eat in response to feeling stress," he said in a telephone interview, and in this case children may be eating more in response to stress-related trouble at home.

The findings show there is a need for a firm social safety net for poor families with protections such as food stamps; better financial education to help people better manage money; and adequate health insurance coverage, he said.

Gundersen and colleagues at Iowa State University and Michigan State University looked at data on 841 children in families living below the poverty line who were part of a government nutrition survey conducted from 1999 to 2002.

"We found that the cumulative stress experienced by the child's mother is an important determinant of child overweight," the research team reported in a study published in the September issue of Pediatrics.

Children in stressed homes where there was plentiful food were more likely to be overweight or obese than those living in stressed situations where food was scarce, they added, because while both were reacting to stress, the former group had food available in which to find refuge.

"Children in food-secure households may have a greater ability to consume more 'comfort foods,' which are often unhealthy, in response to the (stress) they experience," they wrote.

Because most American children do not live in settings where food is scarce, the findings on maternal stress "may be an important factor for children in the United States who are overweight or obese," they concluded.

"Our findings are particularly relevant for children between the ages of 3 and 10," the researchers wrote, because older children can find release outside the home through friends or work.

An estimated 17 percent of US children between the ages of 2 and 19 are obese and another 16 percent are overweight.

"A number of mothers in this study suffer from at least one symptom of depression and anxiety. By providing these women with relevant medical care and counseling, these symptoms may be alleviated with the further indirect benefit of reducing childhood overweight," the researchers wrote.

Hulshof Rolls Out His Health Care Plan

(Springfield, MO) -- Many people believe a key issue in this year's Missouri gubernatorial campaign is affordable health care.

Wednesday, the Republican who wants to lead the state came to Springfield to unveil his plan.

Congressman Kenny Hulshof wants to establish the "Healthy Missouri Access Exchange -- or Health MAX.

The idea is that any individual, small business or employer will have the option of naming Health MAX as their plan.

Once in the system -- users can choose from a variety of plans to fit their needs.

Hulshof says Health MAX addresses the needs of low income Missourians because they would be able to save money in a state sponsored health savings account.
"And part of the savings, we have a modest co-pay," Hushof said. "We think part of the situation we're in now is that people don't take ownership of their own health care decisions. And so we want them to be involved in their own health care decisions."

Hulshof also says health max will also offer health spending debit cards -- and tax incentives will be offered for Missourians to join the program.

Hulshof's opponent, Democrat Jay Nixon's health care plan has a buy in option for any Missouri child into the children health insurance program which right now is only for lower income children.

It creates a one-stop-shop website for Missourians to compare insurance options and restores the health care cuts made in 2005.

Dad of slain boys offers to plead guilty to avoid death

A Glendale Heights father accused of setting his two sons on fire has offered to admit he killed them, but only if his own life is spared.


DuPage County Public Defender Robert Miller said in court Thursday that Kaushik J. Patel wants to plead guilty and spend the rest of his life in prison if prosecutors drop their intention to seek the death penalty.

DuPage State's Attorney Joseph Birkett declined to say if he will accept the plea offer, but a decision may come as early as the next court date on Sept. 11.

Patel, 34, is charged with causing the fatal injuries Nov. 18 after luring his two sons with new toy cars into a bathroom of their home on the 1800 block of Harvest Lane and setting them on fire with gasoline.

The boys' mother was not home when the fire broke out.

Afterward, Kaushik Patel buckled the children into the back seat of his car and drove them to his older brother's house about five miles away in Hanover Park. A relative called 911.

The boys weren't expected to survive that first night, but struggled for months inside Loyola Medical Center's burn unit in Maywood. The youngest child, Om, 4, was the first to die, on Jan. 17. Vishv, 7, survived several surgeries but took a sudden turn for the worse and died Feb. 19.

Their father survived severe burns. He has remained in DuPage County jail on a $10 million cash bond since his Feb. 15 release from the hospital.

Kaushik Patel declined a request Thursday to be interviewed. But, in a March 7 jailhouse interview, he told the Daily Herald it was an accident and he meant to harm only himself in a botched suicide attempt.

"It wasn't murder," he said. "No one understands. I love my kids. I was not trying to kill them, only me."

Patel said he was suicidal over marital problems that arose after his mother-in-law moved in with the couple a few years earlier. He and his wife, Nishaben, wed Aug. 12, 1997, in an arranged marriage in their native India, five years after he had immigrated to the United States.

The couple divorced July 1 after reaching an agreement in which Kaushik Patel voluntarily relinquished any right to their home, two cars, $25,000 in jewelry and the boys' life-insurance policies.

Authorities said they don't believe the accident defense. They said both boys' injuries were much more severe, indicating they had more gasoline doused on them than their father. Police also said Patel made incriminating statements that night to his brother in which he admitted it was a botched murder-suicide attempt.