It's possible to predict the likelihood of a child becoming obese from the time he or she is born based on a simple formula, according to a new study published Thursday in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.
A group of researchers set out to determine the most accurate predictors of childhood obesity based on their belief that "prevention of obesity should start as early as possible after birth," as they wrote in the study. They created a formula, available as an online calculator, which incorporates a child's birth weight, the body mass index of the parents, the number of people living in the household, the mother's professional status, and the smoking habits of the parents while the mother is pregnant.
The formula was developed based on data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 Study, which tracked children from their mothers' early pregnancy. The researchers analyzed data from ...
