Health
Early obesity could be precursor
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 25, 2006
Lending support to the idea that it's never too early to pay heed to healthy living, a new report by the National Institutes of Health and several academic research centers found that overweight toddlers and preschoolers are more likely to become overweight teens.
Researchers periodically collected height and weight measurements of more than 1,000 children ages 2 to 12. They found that children who were overweight at least once between ages 2 and 4½ were five times more likely to be overweight at age 12 compared with children who were not overweight in earlier childhood.
"These findings underscore the need to maintain a healthy weight beginning in early childhood," said Duane Alexander, MD, director of NIH's National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which funded the study. "Contrary to popular belief, young children who are overweight or obese typically won't lose the extra weight simply as a result of getting older."
The analysis is in the September Pediatrics.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/09/25/hlbf0925.htm.
