More than 12.4% of American children who entered kindergarten between 1998 and 1999 were obese and 14.9% overweight. According to a study based on the body mass index compiled by the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, these children are four times more likely than others to become obese by the age of 14. Indeed, according to the analyzes of researchers from the faculty of public health at Emory University, in the United States, childhood obesity would be determined from the age of five.
The study, published by the medical journal New England Journal of Medicine, takes into account data from a cohort of 7,738 children enrolled in preschool in the United States for two years. “While trends in the prevalence of obesity are well established, very little was known about children who become obese and at what age,” said Solveig Cunningham, lead author of this research, quoted by AFP. “Examining the incidence of obesity at this young age and its evolution could inform us about the nature of this epidemic, the ages of greatest vulnerability and the groups that are at the greatest risk of becoming obese,” he adds. she.
Targeted prevention
According to the researchers’ results, the obesity rate is higher at age 14 among black children (17%), followed by Hispanics (14%), whites (10%) and those of other origins. Between the ages of five and 14, obesity was highest (25.8%) among children from the poorest backgrounds of the group. “We have indications that certain factors before birth and during the first five years of life play an important role in obesity,” says Professor Cunningham.
The researcher says prevention efforts should target children “at risk of becoming obese later in life.”
