Childhood Obesity Starts In Infancy, Study Says

Right after the report was published last week which showed that childhood obesity rates have tripled over the past two decades; a group of researchers have suggested that parents must start obesity prevention efforts as soon as the child turns two years, which has been said as a “tipping point” in kids' life that could predispose them to obesity later in life.

Globally, 22 million children under five are estimated to be overweight. More than 9 million American children are overweight or obese. In US, 1 out of 3 kids are now being considered as overweight or obese. Apart from United States, obesity is causing concern in the United Kingdom and Australia.

British kids are among the most overweight in the world. The main reason behind obesity is unhealthy junk food and sedentary lifestyle as many kids are spending more time in front of a video-game console, TV or computer and less time exercising. 25% of American kids’ below 10 years of age have high cholesterol, high blood pressure or some other contributor to heart disease.

The findings of the new study was presented at a pediatric research program on Friday, which says that obesity prevention efforts should begin as early as age 2.

Co-author of the study, John W. Harrington, M.D., a pediatrician at Virginia’’s Children’’s Hospital of The King’’s Daughters (CHKD) and team analyzed the data of 111 overweight children (the average age was 12 years) from a suburban paediatric clinic where the children had their height and weight measured at least 5 times during routine visits.

John W. Harrington said, “This study suggests that doctors may want to start reviewing the diet of children during early well-child visits.”

“By the time they reach eight years old, they”re already far into the overweight category, making treatment more difficult,” he added.

If the body mass indexdefine (BMI)-- used to estimate total amount of fat -- of a child was above 85 percent of the general population then he was classified as ‘overweight’. Researchers charted the recorded body mass index of the children from infancy.

The researchers revealed that obese children had started putting on weight in infancy at an average rate of .08 excess BMI units every month, on average; they began this progression at 3 months of age.

More than fifty percent of children could be classified as overweight at two years old and 90% before they are even five years old.

Lead author of the study, Vu Nguyen, a second year student at Eastern Virginia Medical School, CHKD's academic partner, said that the findings took him by surprise.

Nguyen said, “I didn't think that obesity would start that early.”

Last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that cholesterol fighting drugs should be given to some kids as young as 8 years, earlier the age limit was 10 years but now the committee says that they have found evidence that damage leading to cardiovascular disease starts very early in childhood.

At last, Britain has come up with new plan to tackle childhood obesity. The government announced past month that the parents of all kids' aged between 4 and five years and 10 and 11 will get written notification of their children's height and weight, after a leaked study found that the weight problem among Brit kids is worse than previously anticipated.

Over-weight or obese children are at higher risk for developing medical problems, apart from cholesterol and heart disease, that affect their present and future health and quality of life, such as high blood pressure and abnormal blood lipid levels, insulindefine resistance, type 2 diabetesdefine, restless or disordered sleep patterns, liver and gall bladderdefine disease, bone and joint problems.

Children who have heart disease risk factors in childhood including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes can lead to serious medical problems like heart disease, heart failure and stroke as adults.