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Being
fat at one of three stages in your life may be critical
in
predicting whether
you will have a weight
problem as an adult, researchers said Thursday, citing
several studies.
A person’s weight at birth, as a preschooler and as a teen seem to have a strong
connection to weight problems in adulthood, said scientists at Europe’s annual
conference on obesity research. If the evidence holds up, it could signal
public health experts when to intervene. In the case of infants, it will
be hard to
convince parents, and even nurses, to move away from the idea of aiming for
a big baby, experts predict.
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ATHENS, Greece, June 3, 2005
'A major stumbling block'
“They like to see them get high
up on those (growth) curves, particularly in those early days.
It’s pretty ingrained in the maternal and child health nursing
system to have a big baby, and it’s probably not a smart idea,” said
Dr. Boyd Swinburn, an obesity expert from Deakin University
in Melbourne, Australia. “And this under-recognition by parents
is huge. It’s going to be a major stumbling block.”
However,
scientists don’t know exactly what weight is too big, nor is
it clear just how much control a pregnant woman could have
on the size of her developing fetus.
Studies have shown that
babies who are born large are more likely to end up fat as
adults. On the other hand, being born very small also seems
to increase the risk of obesity in adulthood, especially if
such infants are then fed intensively to allow rapid growth
so that they catch up with their peers.
“There are data from
several different countries, including Israel, America, Europe
and Southeast Asia” that demonstrate the birth weight effect,
said Tim Lobstein, a childhood obesity specialist at the International
Obesity Task Force.
In the case of a malnourished mother, “the fetus will trigger the genes that
conserve as much as possible. It will ... be triggering a laying-down of any
surplus energy as fat rapidly,” Lobstein said.
Optimal weight at birth
He said
that generally applies to babies weighing less than 5.5 pounds. “The optimum
is to try and have a baby around the 6 pounds or 7 pounds mark,” he said.
The
next stage that may be important is the preschool period, research suggests.
Several studies indicate that children who gain weight before gaining height
between toddlerhood and school-age seem to have a higher chance of being fat
adults.
Rapid weight gain due to overfeeding in the first year of life may be
particularly risky for later obesity, experts say.
Major studies over the last
few years indicate that about one in three children who are fat in early childhood
end up as fat adults. Children who get fat before age 8 tend to end up more severely
obese as adults than those who gain weight afterward.
But being fat in the teenage
years seems to be even more predictive of later obesity, research indicates.
About 70 percent of fat adolescents end up obese later in life.
The problem with
obesity in adolescence seems to be that the male sex hormone testosterone pushes
fat to the belly, a high-risk location. In girls, the problem is that they tend
to gain a lot of weight during their teens.
“We know that fatness in adolescence
predicts later obesity,” but getting fat for the first time during teen years
seems to be a little less clear,” said Dr. William H. Dietz, director of nutrition
and physical activity at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The three stages of childhood considered critical for obesity development outlined
at the conference are scheduled to be discussed at an upcoming World Health Organization
meeting of experts in Japan later this month.
© 2005 The Associated Press.
© 2005
MSNBC.com
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