Obese women risk having fat children

Children born to obese women are more than twice as likely to be overweight by the age of four, 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 pre-school to see how early the problem develops, said the study’s author, Dr Robert Whitaker, a paediatrician at the US Mathematica Policy Research.