Big babies linked to obesity

BABIES who are born large are more likely to be overweight by the time they are at school.

A US study has found 23 per cent of children who had a high birth weight are obese when they reach the age of seven – compared with less than 16 per cent of those born at a normal weight.

The findings, reported in the journal Paediatric Obesity, support earlier evidence that large babies are in danger of later weight gain, as well as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

The authors, led by a team from the University of Virginia, say that larger babies have up to 130 per cent increased odds of being overweight or obese.