Changes in body weight – or rather their lack of – may be related to risk childish obesityaccording to a study published in the journal “Jama Network Open”.
Funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the study included 9,483 children in all the United States that form part of the ECHO research program and attended the Body Mass Index (BMI) of infant age to age. Researchers on childhood obesity examined weight and height data collected over time by medical records, career reports and measurements in person or at home. They watched that the children’s BMI changed as they grew up and searched for patterns related to experiences in early life.
The researchers identified two distinct development standards. Most children (89.4%) followed a typical curve, with BMI decreased to early childhood (1-6 years) before gradually increased again. But a smaller group followed a trajectory, in which the BMI remained until the age of 3.5 and then had a sharp increase to nine years. Children in this group were more likely to develop obesity by the age of nine, with a BMI higher than the 99th percentage.
“The fact that we can detect unusual BMI standards as early as three and a half years old shows how critical the early childhood is to prevent obesity,” said researcher Chang Liu from the State University of Washington.