Children, including babies, are
more likely to be overweight than they were in
the early 1980s, a US study says.
Harvard Medical School scientists
studied a total of 120,000 children under six
from 1980 to 2001.
Overall, the proportion overweight
rose by nearly two thirds to 10%, while for babies
under six months the rate increased by three quarters
to 5.9%.
UK experts warned parents the
trend highlighted by the Obesity journal was also
being seen in the UK.
The study, carried out on children
in Massachusetts, found that boys were the most
likely to be overweight in the early 1980s, with
7.2% falling into that bracket compared to 5.4%
of girls.
Two decades later, 10.8% of boys
and 9.2% of girls were overweight - defined as
45% above average when height and weight are taken
into account.
And the researchers said it was
particularly worrying that the number of newborns
just beneath the overweight mark had increased
by much more than the other age groups.
The reasons for the increase
in weight problems for older children have been
linked to levels of inactivity and the consumption
of foods high in fat, salt and sugar.
For babies, the research suggested
it was linked to the eating habits of women while
pregnant and the rate of gestational diabetes,
which affects women solely during pregnancy.
Weight gain
Lead researcher Matthew Gillman
said: "The obesity epidemic has spared no age
group, even our youngest children.
"The information is important
to public health because previous studies show
that accelerated weight gain in the first few
months after birth is associated with obesity
later in life."
And he added: "These results
show that efforts to prevent obesity must start
at the earliest stages of human development, even
before birth.
"These efforts should include
avoiding smoking and excessive weight gain during
pregnancy, and promoting breast feeding, all of
which researchers have shown to be associated
with reductions in childhood overweight."
Paul Sacher, of the Institute
of Child Health, said similar trends were likely
to have happened in the UK.
"It is not surprising younger
children are being affected and this should be
a message to parents that they must make sure
their children stay active and eat healthily.
"Young children do have more
of a chance of growing out of their overweight,
but being overweight as a child means you are
more likely to become obese as an adult."
But Rosie Dodds, of the National
Childbirth Trust, urged parents of young babies
not to get too worried about weight.
"It is much better to be guided
by the appetite of the baby."
She also pointed out that breast-fed
babies tended to be leaner at a year old.
