Contact: Jim Feuer
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Embargoed Until 5 P.M., Monday, March 2 Early Changes in Childhood Body Fat Predict Adult Obesity
CINCINNATI -- The chance of becoming obese in adulthood can be predicted based on the age at which a child is thinnest, according to a study by a physician at Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati. After the first year of life, children normally become thinner until they are 5 or 6, when they become fatter again.
The age when a child is thinnest is called the point of adiposity rebound. Children who reach that point before they turn 5 are more than twice as likely to be obese as adults, says Robert Whitaker, M.D., a physician in Cincinnati Children's division of general and community pediatrics.
The study, published in the March edition of Pediatrics electronic pages -- the Internet extension of the journal Pediatrics -- is the first to show that adult obesity occurs more frequently in children who have their adiposity rebound at an early age, according to Dr. Whitaker. "An early age of rebound was associated with an increased risk of adult obesity regardless of how fat the child was at the point of rebound or how fat the parents were," says Dr. Whitaker. "The age at which rebound occurs may be genetic and hard to alter.
It could also reflect environmental influences, such as parents strongly encouraging their toddlers to eat at an age where there is a natural tendency for body fat to decrease, for physical activity to increase, and for picky eating behavior to begin."
The study examined 390 young adults born between 1965 and 1971 and their parents. They were measured several times during childhood and at least once in adulthood. Dr. Whitaker says future obesity prevention and treatment studies in young children should examine whether the age of rebound can be delayed and whether that would change the risk of adult obesity, particularly for children of obese parents.
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