Obesity in Children - Weight at Ages 3 to 6 is Critical in Determining Obesity in Later Life

A year ago, I had reviewed Obesity that has reached epidemic proportions globally and is projected to increase significantly in the future.  Obese adults find it almost impossible to reduce weight, and are at greater risk of many illnesses like high blood pressure, diabetes, gout, heart disease, strokes, some cancers, joint problems, osteoarthritis, breathing problems, problems with sleep, gallstones and more. The association between obesity and depression is also well established. 

It is widely appreciated that an overweight child is more likely than a child of normal weight to be obese as an adult. Childhood obesity has been increasing an an alarming rate with a 10 fold increase in the past 40 years and this does not bode well for the global health in the future.    

A study of over 51000 children  has looked at the dynamics of BMI changes in children and adolescents and come to some interesting conclusions that your weight between ages of 3 and 5 is an important determinant of your adult weight.  This study may pave the way to control the growing scrouge of obesity in the world. 

I present a slide to define BMI before discussing the results of the study. 

  
We shall assume that 95th percentile defines the boudary of obesity.  The chart shows that a 20 year old with BMI of 30 (95th percentile) is obese, while a child at age 10 with BMI of 20 is in the 95th percentile and may be classified as obese. Children in the 5th percentile are underweight. 

The body-fat content of a healthy full-term infant rises from 10-14% at birth to 25-30% at 6 months of age - with a consequent increase of 30% in BMI. This is to support normal physical body and brain development.  After peaking at 6 to 12 months of age, BMI declines to a low value at 5 to 6 years of age and then rebounds (adiposity rebound) - rising throughout late childhood and adolescence.

I refer you to the study for detailed analysis but present their results in the following.

1.  90% of children obese at 3 years of age were overweight or obese in adolescence.
2.  Among obese adolescents, greatest acceleration in annual BMI increments occurred between 2 and 6 years of age.
3.  53% of obese adolescents had been overweight or obese from 5 years of age onwards with BMI increasing further with age.
4.  Most of the adolescents with normal weight had always had a normal weight throughout childhood.

Points 1 and 4 are crucial results that indicate that your weight as a young child (age 3 to 6 years) predisposes you to a particular body weight as an adolescent and, it might be safe to state, also as an adult.

How to control childhood obesity:  From slide 1, one notes that obesity started its upward march from about 1970.  Lifestyle has changed a lot since then and one wonders if there is some serious relation between these two.  My previous blog has looked at some sensible steps that one can take to control obesity increase.  The present study highlights the need to act when the child is between 3 and 6 years of age.  Advice about nutrition is fine but it is only a small part of the overall picture.  Regular exercise is very important in maintaining good body weight.
Use of hand-held electronic devices must be rationed for children as they encourage sedentary habits.  Sleeping times that synchronize with circadian rhythm might be something to work on as this could help in weight control and fostering general health.

Parents are too busy these days to generally provide good wholesome care for the children. 
I would be very interested in your ideas about how to control weight gain in young children.   
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http://ektalks.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-disease-called-obesity-what-is-it.html