The children of overweight mothers are 15 times more likely to be obese by age 6 than children of lean mothers. The children start putting on weight at age 3. Researchers from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania, USA, studied 70 children at the hospital over a six-year period. About half had overweight mothers and half had lean mothers. As babies, the two groups of children looked much the same in terms of weight and body fat. But one-third of the children of overweight women gained weight quickly after turning 3. Of the 37 children of healthy weight women, only one became overweight. As seen in adults in US, children from poorer families were more likely to be overweight. The researchers found dramatic increases in body fat between ages three and six and suggested that prevention and treatment programmes must begin at a much earlier age and there is need to start watching out for children of overweight parents early - by age 4 at the latest. The researchers did not believe that poor diet alone was to be blamed and hypothesised that certain children must be carrying a combination of genes that make them much more vulnerable to an environment, where it is difficult to exercise and there is excess food.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,
January 2005