http://www.newstarget.com/z020329.html

NewsTarget.com printable article
Originally published September 6 2006
Baby fat not so harmless: Overweight infants lead to obese adults
(NewsTarget) While parents and even doctors tend to dismiss a child's extra
pounds as "baby fat," a study published in the September issue of the
journal Pediatrics found that people who are overweight as children are more
likely to be overweight teenagers, and subsequently more likely to be
overweight adults.
"A lot of parents and pediatricians still tend to say, 'Oh, it's just baby
fat.' This study shows that really isn't necessarily the case," says Dr. Jim
Griffin of the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development. "It's not predestination, but the odds are that the child who
is overweight -- and significantly overweight -- in that period will
continue to be overweight."

The report was based on a day care study of over 1,000 healthy U.S. children
in 10 locations across the nation, most of whom were from financially
"well-off" families and born in 1991, when experts say the current obesity
epidemic started gathering steam.

The body mass index (BMI) of each child was measured periodically, and they
were classified as overweight if the BMI reached or exceeded the 85th
percentile, or within the top 15 percent of their age group.

That classification means a 7-year-old weighing as little as 4 pounds more
than their average peer was classified as overweight. Even though 4 pounds
isn't much, lead author Dr. Philip Nader, professor emeritus at the
University of California, San Diego, says it's part of the cumulative effect
of continuous weight gain.

"The closer you get to adolescence, the less likely it is to be able to shed
that extra weight," he said.

According to the study, 60 percent of the participants who were overweight
at any time during preschool years were overweight by age 12, and 80 percent
of kids who were overweight even once during their elementary years were
also overweight by age 12. Preschoolers whose BMI was above the 50th
percentile were six times more likely to be overweight when they reached
adolescence.

"These findings suggest that parents and health care providers may want to
be even more vigilant than currently recommended in recognizing early signs
of being on the path to overweight," the researchers reported.