By Janet Raloff
Baby fat can be a harbinger of serious disease later on. Being overweight as a young child is a strong predictor of diabetes and heart disease risk in early adulthood, a new Dutch study finds.
Previous research has linked being overweight in childhood with a higher risk of these chronic diseases in adulthood, but the new study is the first to identify the ages between 2 and 6 years as the most important in predicting later risk of metabolic syndrome, says the study’s lead author, physician Marlou de Kroon of VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam. The condition is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
The new work “is very interesting,” says cardiologist Gerald Berenson, because it reveals the earliest and most critical age for predicting adult weight problems and risk of serious chronic disease. Berenson, who was not involved in the new study, is director of Tulane University’s Center for Cardiovascular Health in New Orleans.
In the face of a growing epidemic of childhood obesity, these data are very disturbing, Berenson says. People often disregard children’s weight problems, rationalizing “that kids will grow out of it during puberty,” he says. But the new study shows that the kids may not — and if they don’t, big problems could ensue.