Chubby toddlers tend not to outgrow pudginess, study says
Chubby toddlers tend not to outgrow pudginess, study says
By Lindsey Tanner
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press
Published September 5, 2006
Pudgy toddlers face a good chance of becoming overweight 12-year-olds, according to government research that shoots down the notion that kids just naturally outgrow early chubbiness.
Children who were overweight at age 2 or later during their preschool years faced a five times higher risk of being overweight at age 12 than youngsters who were not overweight early on, the study found.
Sixty percent of the children who were overweight at any time during the preschool period were overweight at age 12.
The study was prepared for release Tuesday in September's issue of Pediatrics.
"These findings underscore the need to maintain a healthy weight beginning in early childhood. 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," said Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which funded the study.
The researchers also found that 40 percent of children whose body-mass indexes were between the 50th and 84th percentiles by age 3--or in the normal to high-normal range--were overweight at age 12. By contrast, no children with a BMI below the 50th percentile throughout elementary school had become overweight by age 12.
"It is clear that the longer a child remained in the lower range of normal BMI, the less likelihood there was that the child would become overweight by early adolescence," the researchers said.
The study involved 1,042 U.S. children born in 1991, "basically right during the time when the obesity epidemic was hitting" the nation, said lead author Dr. Philip Nader, a pediatrician and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego.
Participants' height and weight were measured seven times from ages 2 to 12, or into early adolescence. Previous studies have shown that a child's weight during adolescence is a good predictor of weight in adulthood, Nader said.
Similar to recent national estimates, by the study's end about one-third of the children were overweight, about three times higher than the percentage a generation earlier, he said.
Critics say the body-mass index is not always an accurate gauge of excess fat, particularly in growing children. But Nader said high BMIs are a "generally accepted surrogate measure for being overweight." And in young children, a high BMI is more likely to reflect excess fat than excess muscle, he said.
While the study shows that chubby toddlers risk becoming chubby adolescents, "it's not hopeless news," Nader said. Instead, the results should prompt "a call to action" for parents, schools and community planners to provide young children with healthy food and safe places to walk and play, he said.
Dr. Matt Longjohn, executive director of the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children, said the study "tells us that early prevention is best." His group promotes anti-obesity efforts with schools but also helps develop programs for younger children through churches and other community organizations.
"The teachable moments for kids and parents are very often in these younger years," Longjohn said.
- - -
Who's chubby?
In the study, children were measured for their body-mass index, a height-to-weight ratio.
A child was considered overweight if the BMI was in the 85th percentile or higher for the child's sex and age. That means the BMI was higher than those of at least 85 percent of children of the same age and sex.
-- Associated Press
By Lindsey Tanner
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press
Published September 5, 2006
Pudgy toddlers face a good chance of becoming overweight 12-year-olds, according to government research that shoots down the notion that kids just naturally outgrow early chubbiness.
Children who were overweight at age 2 or later during their preschool years faced a five times higher risk of being overweight at age 12 than youngsters who were not overweight early on, the study found.
Sixty percent of the children who were overweight at any time during the preschool period were overweight at age 12.
The study was prepared for release Tuesday in September's issue of Pediatrics.
"These findings underscore the need to maintain a healthy weight beginning in early childhood. 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," said Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which funded the study.
The researchers also found that 40 percent of children whose body-mass indexes were between the 50th and 84th percentiles by age 3--or in the normal to high-normal range--were overweight at age 12. By contrast, no children with a BMI below the 50th percentile throughout elementary school had become overweight by age 12.
"It is clear that the longer a child remained in the lower range of normal BMI, the less likelihood there was that the child would become overweight by early adolescence," the researchers said.
The study involved 1,042 U.S. children born in 1991, "basically right during the time when the obesity epidemic was hitting" the nation, said lead author Dr. Philip Nader, a pediatrician and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego.
Participants' height and weight were measured seven times from ages 2 to 12, or into early adolescence. Previous studies have shown that a child's weight during adolescence is a good predictor of weight in adulthood, Nader said.
Similar to recent national estimates, by the study's end about one-third of the children were overweight, about three times higher than the percentage a generation earlier, he said.
Critics say the body-mass index is not always an accurate gauge of excess fat, particularly in growing children. But Nader said high BMIs are a "generally accepted surrogate measure for being overweight." And in young children, a high BMI is more likely to reflect excess fat than excess muscle, he said.
While the study shows that chubby toddlers risk becoming chubby adolescents, "it's not hopeless news," Nader said. Instead, the results should prompt "a call to action" for parents, schools and community planners to provide young children with healthy food and safe places to walk and play, he said.
Dr. Matt Longjohn, executive director of the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children, said the study "tells us that early prevention is best." His group promotes anti-obesity efforts with schools but also helps develop programs for younger children through churches and other community organizations.
"The teachable moments for kids and parents are very often in these younger years," Longjohn said.
- - -
Who's chubby?
In the study, children were measured for their body-mass index, a height-to-weight ratio.
A child was considered overweight if the BMI was in the 85th percentile or higher for the child's sex and age. That means the BMI was higher than those of at least 85 percent of children of the same age and sex.
-- Associated Press
posted by Carlos T Mock at 9:19 AM
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