Today 5.9% of American infants are obese, a three-quarter total increase over the last two decades, say researchers from Harvard Medical School, USA. 10% of American children under 6 are obese today, a two-thirds increase over the same period.
The researchers looked at 120,680 children in the Massachusetts area, they were all under 6 years of age.
You can read about this study in the journal Obesity.
They found that very young boys are more prone to being overweight than very young girls.
Percentage of boys and girls under 6 who were overweight:
1980 – Boys 7.2%
1980 – Girls 5.4%
2001 – Boys 10.8%
2001 – Girls 9.2%
Not only have the percentages gone up, but the the gap between boys and girls is closing. The researchers defined ?overweight’ as being 45% above average for the child’s height.
The number of kids under 6 and at-risk-for-overweight increased from 11.1% in 1980 to 14.4% in 2001.
The largest increase, said the scientists, was in the percentage of newborns who were on the borderline of being overweight.
If an older child is overweight one can put it down to physical inactivity and eating habits. When a baby is overweight it is usually due to the mother’s diet during pregnancy, as well as such factors as gestational diabetes (gestational diabetes affects women only during pregnancy).
Matthew Gillman, head resarcher 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. 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.”
Dr. Gillman added that it may now be time for Americans to stop thinking that a chubby baby is a healthy one. ?We no longer have grave threats to the lives of infants, such as diarrhea, other infections, and malnutrition. Our problem in the 21st century is chronic disease, and as these overweight babies grow up, are they going to get asthma, stay overweight, develop high blood pressure and diabetes?” he said.
Dr. Gillman stressed that parents should not be overly worried if their newborn is heavy as many of them lose their fat.
An effective way of preventing early childhood obesity, say experts, is to breast feed.
Trends in Overweight from 1980 through 2001 among Preschool-Aged Children Enrolled in a Health Maintenance Organization
Juhee Kim, Karen E. Peterson, Kelley S. Scanlon, Garrett M. Fitzmaurice, Aviva Must||, Emily Oken**, Sheryl L. Rifas-Shiman**, Janet W. Rich-Edwards and Matthew W. Gillman
Obesity 14:1107-1112 (2006)
Click Here To See Abstract Online
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today