Do You Have a Heavy Baby?

Infants are now 59 percent more likely to be overweight than they were 20 years ago, and the number of overweight infants increased by 74 percent, the researchers found.

A study of more than 120,000 children under 6 years of age showed that the prevalence of overweight children increased by more than half in the period between 1980 and 2001.

Additionally, the proportion of children at risk of becoming overweight grew by more than a quarter.

This research suggests that obesity prevention may need to start even before birth. Maternal body mass affects the weight of infants at birth and after. Mothers are putting on more weight during pregnancy compared with past decades, and there has also been an increase in type 2 and gestational diabetes among mothers, which also affect birth weight.

Another factor may be formula feeding, which causes faster weight gain than breast feeding.

Early weight gain can have consequences for long-term health, including increased risks of high blood pressure and asthma.

Obesity July 2006; 14(7): 1107-1112

USA Today August 10, 2006

Forbes.com August 9, 2006

Dr. Mercola´s Comment:

If the hypothetical question posed by the headline of this article doesn't alarm you, it should. This is one of the primary reasons why the current generations of children will not live as long as their parents.

The obesity epidemic has stretched to infants, toddlers, and even newborns, thanks to factors like overweight mothers, diabetes and no breastfeeding. This is one of the reasons we have a diabetes epidemic in the United States, as one in three adults, or 75 million Americans, have diabetes or pre-diabetes.

Childhood obesity is a grave problem, advancing much more quickly than the CDC and others predicted. In addition to taking care of yourself before your child's birth, you should help them out afterward by setting guidelines and educating children on good nutrition. Providing them with nutritious meals and snacks will put them on the road to making healthy decisions as adults.

TV is one of the most pernicious influences, and I couldn't recommend stopping it more strongly. Not only will it decrease your children's activity level, but also it will expose them to commercials promoting worthless foods.

Source: mercola.com - the world´s No. 1 health website