Obesity research shows three critical childhood periods

EVIDENCE is growing that people’s weight at three periods of childhood may be critical in setting them up to be fat in adulthood, scientists have found.

Being born either too big or too small and the early appearance of puppy fat and tubbiness in teenagehood seem to be emerging as important factors influencing how much of a struggle with weight people have as adults, according to experts gathered this week at Europe’s annual conference on obesity research.

Identifying these critical periods, they say, could help public health experts determine where best to intervene.