Published 21 August 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a669
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a669

Editorials

Obesity in children

May not predict obesity in adults, but monitoring is essential

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In the linked study (doi: 10.1136/bmj.a802), Funatogawa and colleagues compare growth curves of body mass index from children to adolescents, and then to young adults, in Japanese girls in birth cohorts from 1930 to 1999.1 The authors find that obesity in childhood fails to predict obesity in adulthood. Their finding begs a wider question about the meaning and effects of excess body weight in children, and whether monitoring the prevalence of childhood obesity is worth while.

This study, which repeatedly examined cross sectional samples from the 1930s to the 1990s, found that although body mass index increased in girls aged 5-12 years in each decade, it did not translate into higher body mass indexes in women aged 17-25 years a decade or so later. If anything, as the children became fatter the young women became thinner. The interpretation given in the paper is that, for girls (but not, apparently, . . . [Full text of this article]

Tim Lobstein, director

1 Child Obesity Programme, International Association for the Study of Obesity, London NW1 2NR

tlobstein@iaso.org


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Big subjects: education and obesity
Jane Smith
BMJ 2008 337: a1448. [Extract] [Full Text]

Do overweight children necessarily make overweight adults? Repeated cross sectional annual nationwide survey of Japanese girls and women over nearly six decades
Ikuko Funatogawa, Takashi Funatogawa, and Eiji Yano
BMJ 2008 337: a802. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Trans-fats in chips and cookies
GEORGE Y. CALDWELL, et al.
bmj.com, 5 Sep 2008 [Full text]
Re: Trans-fats in chips and cookies
David G Tucker
bmj.com, 7 Sep 2008 [Full text]
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ