Two new Cornell studies have been published that shed further light on childhood obesity. In one report, Cornell University, American University and University of Chicago researchers found that the more time mothers spend working, the heavier their children become, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. Researchers from the three schools analyzed data on 900 school-aged children and found that the more time mothers spend working, the larger the increase in their children's BMI. They concluded that the children's environmental factors –– including changes to their sleeping schedules and eating habits due to their mothers' employment –– contributed to the rise.

In the other report, a Cornell study found that living in a less connected community contributed to increases in childhood obesity and smoking habits, according to U.S. News and World Report. The researchers asked low-income and middle-income teenagers and their mothers to provide information about how connected their community was as a whole, and then measured the respondents health behaviors, including smoking, and their BMI. They concluded that poor teens were more likely than middle-class teens to be obese and smoke more, but they also found that low-income teenagers in more connected communities were less likely to be obese and smoke regularly than those in less connected ones.