Babies' Rapid Weight
Gain Linked to Obesity
Excerpt By Martha Kerr, Reuters Health

ANAHEIM (Reuters Health) - Babies who gain weight more rapidly than their peers in the first four months of life are more likely to be obese at age 7, a University of Pennsylvania researcher told attendees at a meeting of the American Heart Association Monday morning.

Dr. Nicolas Stettler of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia noted that the incidence of obesity has tripled in the past 30 years. His team analyzed data collected on 27,899 children born between 1959 and 1965 in 12 US cities, using the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) definition of obesity, which is a body mass index (BMI) of greater than 95% of the population of the same age and sex.

BMI is a measurement of weight in relation to height.

By the age of 7, 5.4% of the children were obese. Stettler reported that babies that put on weight more rapidly between 0 and 4 months of age had a 38% increased risk of obesity at age 7 compared with infants who did not put on the weight as quickly. The link held true regardless of the mother's weight. And it was stronger than the rate of weight gain by age 1, at which point the risk of later obesity was 17% higher.

``We believe that the first few months of life are critical to the development of obesity,'' Stettler said. He pointed out that ``we have no known strategy to prevent obesity in early infancy.'' Animal studies suggest that appetite regulation may be set during that period.

However, Stettler told Reuters Health, the prevalence of breast-feeding among the overweight babies was relatively low. ''We know that breast-fed infants gain weight more slowly and it also appears to protect against obesity,'' he explained.

Reference Source 89

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