Childhood obesity as a risk factor in adulthood and its prevention

• Published in: Preventive medicine Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 47 - 52
• Main Author: Simic, Bozidar S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 1983
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Birth Weight; Body Weight; Child; children; Family; Female; Humans; Hyperlipidemias - etiology; Hypertension - etiology; Infant, Newborn; longitudinal studies; maternal-fetal transfer; Mother-child relations; obesity; Obesity - complications; Obesity - prevention & control; Obesity - psychology; Pregnancy; preventive medicine; preventive nutrition; Prognosis; Risk; risk factors; weight gain
• ISSN: 0091-7435; 1096-0260
• DOI: 10.1016/0091-7435(83)90170-6

Investigation of the relationship between relative body mass (RBM) of women immediately upon giving birth and birth weight (BW) of newborns showed that variables are positively correlated ( r = 0.56, P < 0.05). Data on distributions of adult RBM and BW show that it is more likely that children with a BW ⩾4.5 kg will become obese in a later stage of life than those whose BW was ⩽3.2 kg. The regression lines in a group of children indicated a positive correlation between RBM and glycemia ( r = 0.30, P < 0.01), cholesterolemia ( r = 0.223, P < 0.05), and triglyceridemia ( r = 0.239, P < 0.05). After the same duration of dieting, those adults who became obese in early childhood lost as much from their initial body mass and fat as those who became obese in adulthood. A reducing diet produced a decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure in both groups, but was significant only in the latter. Therefore, the prevention of obesity and its consequences should begin in the intrauterine stage and be continued through early childhood, adolescence, and adulthood with dietary measures and increased physical activity.