The study, which was led by a team of researchers from the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow found that the lower a mother's education level, the more likely her children were to have a bedroom TV, eat meals informally in front of a TV, and have less positive social interaction at mealtimes.
These parenting practices were associated with the child having a less healthy diet, which in turn led to BMI increasing more rapidly between the ages of four and eight years.
"Lower maternal educational levels have been linked to higher child body mass index in many countries, but the reasons for this are not well understood," said Lead author of the study, Dr Alison Parkes.
In this study, we investigated whether maternal education is linked to young children's BMI, via parenting and unhealthy diet.
"We found that lower levels of maternal education predicted a steeper increase in child BMI from the age of four to eight. We found this steeper increase even after accounting for the fact that mothers with lower levels of education also tend to have a higher BMI themselves," Parkes said.
The authors also looked at other factors which might influence children's BMI, including household income and area deprivation, however no strong correlation between these factors and child BMI was found after taking account of mothers' own BMI.
Instead, the authors suggest that BMI inequalities between children are largely borne out of parenting practices that may be more related to culture than to family income.
"There is a strong relationship between mother's education and parenting practices, which ultimately impacts on children's diet and BMI. Our results support other research suggesting links between food consumption while watching TV, unhealthy diet and BMI," Parkes said.