Early origins of obesity: developing strategies for intervention

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Rates of obesity in childhood are rising rapidly, with potentially enormous implications for future health. Overweight is usually measured by relating weight to height using the body mass index (BMI). BMI tracks from childhood and as early as age five may predict future mortality. Thus childhood obesity seems to represent a time bomb that we ignore at our peril. On the other hand we know that that the majority of todays fat adults were not themselves overweight in childhood, other studies have found that thinness in early childhood may also relate to poorer adult health and we know that BMI is measuring build and lean mass as well as fatness. If we are to plan effective and safe interventions it is thus a matter of urgency that we find out more about which individuals in early childhood are truly fat and how this relates to feeding patterns, physical activity and family lifestyles.The Gateshead Millennium Baby Study is already following 1029 children recruited at birth in 1999 and 2000 and we have information on feeding, growth and social circumstances from birth to 13 months. We will study these children again aged 6-7 years in order to collect a range of measures of fatness, build and muscularity and relate these to activity and diet information measured at the same time, as well as the infancy data we already hold. We will also find out how worried parents are about their childrens overweight and what sorts of preventive interventions they would potentially be willing to accept.