BY TARA BURGHART
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO -- Children born to obese women are more than twice as likely to be overweight by age 4, according to a new study that indicates prevention efforts should begin at -- or even before -- birth.
While obesity is known to run in families, the study appears to be the first to follow children from birth until preschool to see how early the problem develops, said the study's author, Dr. Robert Whitaker, a pediatrician at Mathematica Policy Research in Princeton, N.J.
The study of nearly 8,500 women found that by age 4, 24 percent of children were obese if their mothers had been obese during the first trimester of pregnancy, compared with 9 percent of children whose mothers had been of normal weight.
Children with obese mothers were found to be twice as likely to be obese at age 2 and 2.3 times as likely at age 4.
The research did not seek to determine why the risk of obesity increased when the mother was overweight. Whitaker said likely factors include genetics, influences in the mother's uterus during the nine months of pregnancy, and eating habits and physical activity levels at home.
The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and appears in the July issue of Pediatrics. It collected data on poor women and children enrolled in an Ohio welfare program.
Dr. Rebecca Unger, a pediatrician in the Nutrition Evaluation Clinic at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, questioned whether the study -- which involved only poor children -- could be applied to the general population.
Still, she said the research underscores the importance of trying to prevent obesity by identifying risk factors early in life.
Other studies have shown that overweight children are likely to grow up to be fat adults.