Obesity Prevention should Start as Early as Pre-Pregnancy

Recent studies have demonstrated that events very early in life, during the toddler, infancy years and even before birth, in the womb, can lead young children to an obesity trajectory that is hard to alter by the time they’re in kindergarten. The evidence is not ironclad, but it suggests that prevention efforts should start very early.

Among the findings are these:
- Chubby babies are likely to have future obesity problems;
- Smoking pregnant women may result in babies obesity.
- Babies who sleep less than 12 hours are at increased risk for obesity later. If they don’t sleep enough and also watch two hours or more of TV a day, they are at even greater risk.

Some early interventions are already widely practiced. Doctors recommend that overweight women lose weight before pregnancy rather than after, to cut the risk of obesity and diabetes in their children; breast-feeding is also recommended to lower the obesity risk.

Source: from nytimes.com