A new study has found that parents can talk all they want about eating a healthy diet, but unless they actually eat well, chances are their kids won't either. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that the girls who ate lower-fat diets got more fibre and nutrients and that their eating habits mirrored those of their mothers.

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The researchers looked at almost 200 girls and their mothers. The group was divided in two: those who ate a high fat diet and those who ate a low fat diet. The researchers found that mothers of girls in the high-fat group reported attempting to control their daughters' diets more often. They did this either by pressuring them to eat more if they were thin or by restricting their child's food if they were heavy.

But such controlling tactics appeared to have little effect. What did make a difference was what the mother ate. The girls' diets were very similar to their mothers.

There may be several reasons why this was true. First, mothers may be serving as role models to their daughters. Also, mothers and children are choosing from the same selection of foods available in the house. If healthy foods aren't present, then neither mother nor daughter can eat them.

"All kids know is what they've been brought up with," says Elyse Tyler, a clinical dietician from Children's Medical Centre in Dallas. "You can't restrict children and then eat chips and Cheetos in front of them."

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