Early years nutrition and healthy weight

Childhood obesity is among the most common of chronic diseases and potentially one of
the most preventable. Recent data from the USA suggests that although approximately
15% of pre-school children were overweight before they completed kindergarten, or
when they were approximately 5.6years of age, incidence of obesity in this group
accounted for almost half of obesity present in 14-year-old adolescents [1]. In addition,
although increased birth weight occurred in 12% of infants in this cohort, adolescents
with increased birth weight accounted for over one-third of obesity present in 14-yearolds. These observations emphasize that successful, early efforts to prevent obesity in
pre-school children or to successfully treat young children who are overweight or obese
may be one of the most cost-effective strategies to reduce childhood obesity.