An estimated 10 percent of children -- or at least 155 million
youngsters worldwide -- suffer from being overweight or obese.
The susceptibility to gain weight begins early (even in the womb),
which is why a child can develop habits by the tender age of 3 ensuring
they are likely to suffer from weight problems, noted a study of
more than 9,000 children whose growth had been monitored since birth.
Thus, in an effort to curb the prevalence of childhood obesity,
researchers devised a check-list to warn parents of the early signs
of obesity in their children. The seven factors include:
- Early size
- Early body fat
- High birth weight
- Having obese parents
- Quick growth from ages 1-2
- Watching more than eight hours of TV a week
- Getting less than 10.5 hours of sleep at night
In addition, children who are overweight or obese have an increased
risk of succumbing to type 2 diabetes and of developing heart disease,
stroke and certain types of cancer later in life.
And while early growth risk factors were shown to contribute to
childhood obesity, a number of lifestyle factors were also found
to play a role. Thus, researchers believe a key to preventing childhood
obesity is to modify lifestyle and environmental factors very early
on.
British
Medical Journal May 20, 2005 (Free Full-Text Article)
Reuters
May 20, 2005
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