If your child is overweight or obese now, will he or she be at risk for health problems in the future? Researchers in the United Kingdom studied whether being overweight in childhood increased the risk of adult obesity and disease and found that overweight children don't necessarily become obese adults.
A 50-year study of 412 people published in the British Medical Journal measured body mass index, percentage of body fat, blood pressure, and cholesterol from childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood. Height, weight and waist circumference were also measured during the study.
In most of the study participants, body mass index increased through puberty and adulthood. By the time they turned 50, 60% of men and 41% of women were overweight. Body mass index in childhood was related to adult body mass index, but body mass index at age 9 and adult body fat percentages were not significantly related.
Obese teens tended to become obese adults, though. The most overweight 13-year-olds were twice as likely as the rest of the children in the study to be the adults with the highest percentages of body fat.
Being thin in childhood doesn't necessarily protect your child from developing into an overweight adult either. The thinnest children tended to have the highest risk for adult obesity. Regardless of the child's weight in childhood, a higher body mass index and percentage of body fat at age 50 were both strongly associated with a higher risk of disease.
Sources: Wright CM, Parker L, Lamont D, Craft AW. Implications of childhood obesity for adult health: findings from thousand families cohort study. British Medical Journal 2001 Dec 1;323(7324):1280-4.
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