Children are spending more time being carted around in strollers, and that physical inactivity may be a contributing factor to the rising level of childhood obesity, according to a new study.
In a presentation to the Canadian Paediatric Society conference in Quebec last week, researchers said that 80 per cent of toddlers aged one to two were kept in strollers more than half the time they spent outdoors.
They also said that 25 per cent of kids aged three to five spent only half their time outdoors running -- the other half was spent strapped in a stroller.
The researchers studied 1,000 children in total for the report.
Sandra Martin, an editor at Today's Parent magazine, said that such studies should make parents think twice before they wheel their child around.
"It is less convenient for parents who have to keep an eye on a child who is walking around in a busy amusement park or in a zoo … but that is a part of parenting," she told CTV News. "It's not always convenient."
But obesity specialist Dr. Yon Freedoff warned that such studies miss the point.
"What we are seeing with kids getting larger is our environment -- not the fact that they are being pushed in a stroller but the fact that we are eating awful foods," he said.
"We have a ridiculous and toxic food environment and to try to put the blame on strollers is completely asinine."
With a report by CTV medical specialist Avis Favaro and producer Elizabeth St. Philip
