BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhuanet) -- Babies who gain weight quickly in the first six months of life may be more prone to obesity as toddlers, according to a Harvard researchers report on Monday.
"There is increasing evidence that rapid changes in weight during infancy increase children's risk of later obesity," says researcher Elsie Taveras, MD, PhD, of Harvard Medical School, in a news release. "The mounting evidence suggests that infancy may be a critical period during which to prevent childhood obesity and its related consequences."
In the journal published in Pediatrics, researchers divided 559 children into four groups based on measurements of their weights and heights at birth, six months and age 3. Nearly one of 10 children were obese at 3.
Those heaviest at birth and those gaining the most weight through age 6 months together had a 40 percent higher probability of being obese at age 3.
"(This) suggests that it is rapid weight gain in infancy that puts children at risk" more than heavy birth weight, Elsie Taveras and fellow researchers wrote.
Obesity at age 3 does not necessarily translate into obesity later in childhood or adulthood, but it raises the risks, they said.
According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly a third of adults in the United States are obese. Obese people are 10 percent to 50 percent more likely to die of all causes.
"The key indication for this study is the importance of better education about feeding infants," said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis.
(Agencies)
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