Study: Rapid Weight Gain During Infancy May Lead to Obesity

Rapid weight gain during infancy may lead to obesity later in childhood, according to researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania.

"Early infancy seems to be a critical period for the establishment of obesity," said Dr. Nicolas Stettler, pediatric nutrition specialist at Children's Hospital and lead author of the study.

"Babies double their birth weight during the first four to six months, so this may be a period for the establishment of weight regulation," said Stettler. "A rapid rate of early weight gain may also be related to cardiovascular disease later in life; both conditions often cluster in individuals."

Researchers studied a diverse group of 19,000 U.S. children who were full-term at birth. Rapid weight gain during the first four months of life was strongly linked with an increased risk of being overweight at age seven, regardless of birth weight and weight at one year of age, the researchers reported in the journal Pediatrics.

With even a modest increase in weight gain of 100 extra grams per month during infancy, the risk of being overweight at age seven was increased by more than 25 percent.

The greatest proportional weight gain in early infancy is during the first four to six months after birth, according to the researchers. Researchers speculate that this may be the time when the body develops the biological mechanisms that regulate obesity.

Another theory is that early weight gain reflects a genetic predisposition to being overweight, rather than environmental or feeding patterns. The investigators also found that first-born children and children whose mothers had a higher body-mass index had a higher chance of being overweight at age seven, supporting previous research.

Other sources: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia