Article Summary #13

Author Unknown. Obesity 'often set before age of two'. BBC News. 13 Feb 2010.

US researchers say that they will know if a child will be obese by the age of two. A study was done on over 100 obese kids and teens and was found that more than half were overweight by 24 months and 90% of them were overweight by the age of five. Right now in the UK, about 27% of kids are overweight. Researchers say that the reason for weight gain is not understood, and can vary from person to person, factors that can lead to being overweight is poor diet, early introduction to solid food, and not getting enough exercise.

Researchers also said that a diet is set for kids by the age of two, so changing the eating behavior at a later stage is difficult. The study leader, Dr. John Harrington, an assistant professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School said: “the results should be a wake-up call for doctors. Too often to doctors wait until health complications are already there before they start their treatment. Getting parents and children to change their eating habits is already a challenge. This study indicated that there needs to be a discussion on weight gain in early infancy to affect meaningful changes in the current obesity trend”.