Childhood Obesity Linked to Mom's
Weight
January 25, 2005
By Jeanie Lerche Davis
Overweight 4-year-olds? It’s a common problem
these days. Childhood obesity (search) is showing up
at early ages — and genetics seem to play a key
role, researchers say.
By age 6, children are15 times more likely to be obese
if their mothers are overweight, new research shows.
The study indicates efforts to prevent childhood obesity
should focus on these kids — preferably by 4 years
of age.
“Some kids clearly become overweight by 4 years
old … and they tend to be the children of overweight
mothers,” says researcher Robert I. Berkowitz,
MD, executive director of the Behavioral Health Center
at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His
study appears in the latest issue of the American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition.
“It’s an early signal to be concerned…to
help these children,” Berkowitz tells WebMD. “There’s
no reason to wait for body fat to appear on these kids
before intervening,” he writes.
It’s a call to action for pediatricians, says
Robert Kramer, MD, a pediatric gastroenterologist and
nutritionist at the Miller School of Medicine at University
of Miami. He conducted his own study of preschool children
in the Miami area — finding that 34 percent were
overweight or obese.
“Pediatricians measure a child’s BMI, or
they should be, at all well-child visits,” Kramer
tells WebMD. “They should be identifying those
children as having high risk for developing obesity
as an adult. Studies like this show that even before
children show signs of obesity, if they have maternal
risk, they should get intervention.” BMI (body
mass index) is an indicator of body fat.
Childhood Obesity in Toddlers Begins With Moms
With the epidemic of childhood obesity, both genetic
vulnerability and environment are under the microscope.
Researchers want to know: Who becomes obese? At what
age does obesity begin?
Few long-term studies have examined these factors.
However, two reports have identified the parents or
overweight mothers specifically as key factors. Those
findings prompted Berkowitz and his colleagues to investigate
this link between childhood obesity and mothers’
weight problems.
His study involved 70 children whose growth was followed
from birth to age 6; 33 children had overweight mothers
(the high-risk kids), and 27 kids had lean mothers (the
low-risk kids).
At regular doctor visits, the kids’ lean and
fat body mass were measured.
At age 2, the kids’ weight and BMI were similar.
By age 4, the high-risk kids were showing greater differences
— with higher weight, BMI, and waist measurements.
By age 6, high-risk kids began to show evidence of more
fat.
“For the first time [at age 6] fat mass in the
high-risk children was significantly greater than that
in the low-risk children, as was percentage of body
fat,” Berkowitz writes.
At age 6, 30 percent of the high-risk and 3 percent
of the low-risk kids had high BMI. Six of the high-risk
children were in highest BMI levels for their age. None
of the low-risk kids were.
Some kids of overweight moms remained lean, he notes.
“Their genes may be a little different, or their
home environment may be different,” says Berkowitz.
“We know that once a kid is overweight —
and if the family has weight problems — that’s
a significant risk factor for later weight problems,”
he tells WebMD.
Bottom Line: How to Fight Childhood Obesity?
There’s not an easy answer. “There are
intervention programs for adolescents and teens, but
not for kids this young,” Berkowitz says. Therefore,
he advises: less fat in the diet, less sugar, fewer
calorie-dense foods, less fried food, less junk food.
“Also, it’s important to deal with inactivity.
We need to promote healthy physical activity and cut
down on TV watching.”
Moms need to face their own weight problems —
then help their young children. “We don’t
want moms to feel bad. But we need to help these children.
A lot of this is either a combination of genetic predisposition
and Western lifestyle, not a personal failing. I think
parents and kids can work together to create a healthy
family lifestyle,” Berkowitz tells WebMD.
But family ties to childhood obesity still aren’t
fully explained. “If an overweight mother was
to lose
weight before her pregnancy, would that be protective
for her child?” asks Kramer. “It goes to
the question, how does obesity develop? Are these genes
that are passed on that will develop in the child? Or
does exposure to an obese mother during pregnancy affect
metabolism of fat cells and nutrient metabolism in the
prenatal period?”
Certainly there are lean parents whose kids fall prey
to childhood obesity, Kramer notes.
“Genetics is not the entire story. The classic
thing you’ll hear is that the obesity epidemic
has developed over past 20 or 30 years, so genetic predisposition
has been around for a long time. It’s just being
awakened in this toxic environment. Your genetics puts
you on the cliff, but environment pushes you off.”
Source:www.foxnews.com
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