BBC NEWS | Health | Obesity 'link to same-sex parent'

"There is a strong link in obesity between mothers and daughters and fathers and sons, but not across the gender divide, research suggests....[Researchers] said it was probably because of some form of 'behavioural sympathy' where daughters copied the lifestyles of their mothers and sons their fathers."

Their findings suggest "that obese adults led to obese children...[implying that policies addressing obesity] should be targeting the parents."