Physical development at 7 years of age in relation to velocity of weight gain in infancy with special reference to incidence of overweight.

Abstract

As a result of a carefully controlled study on obese children, Borjeson (1962) concluded that obesity in childhood is not a problem of physical health, and that although it may be a major psychological problem for some children, in most cases there is no evidence of emotional conflict caused by obesity itself.Nevertheless, most physicians consider obesity in children to be a major health problem calling for preventive and therapeutic action.Besides a wide- spread moral attitude towards overconsumption of food as the suspected cause of overweight, this concern gains support from the claim that obesity in adults implies a considerably increased risk of secondary disease and premature death (Kannel et al., 1967) and the fact that very often adult obesity starts in childhood (Mullins, 1958).In the view of physicians responsible for adult care, treatment of obesity should therefore start in childhood.Paedia- tricians, however, have all experienced extreme difficulties in endeavours to achieve long-term weight reduction in obese children (Lloyd, Wolff, and Whelen, 1961; Spranger and Dorken, 1967; Lodi, 1970).Therefore the possibility of early preventive action, preferably in infancy, has to be considered seriously.This preventive attitude has been supported by the findings of Knittle and Hirsch (1968) that the number of fat cells in adipose tissue is significantly increased in rats overfed during the first 10 weeks of life.It is not yet known whether human infants behave in the same way as rats in this respect.It has been found in the human species as well as in the rat, however, that the total number of copyright.