A study published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition claims that the doctors start giving attention to the children of overweight parents very early- by the age of 4 at the latest. "We found dramatic increase in body fat between ages three and six", said Dr Robert Berkowitz, who led the study. He was also quoted saying " We should be doing prevention and treatment programs at a much earlier age. Everyone knows how difficult it is to take weight off once you are overweight." As per the US researchers, children of overweight mothers are 15 times more likely to be obese by the age of 6 than the children of lean mothers.

His team is now working on the eating and exercise habits of the families they studied but said genes undoubtly play an important role as per other studies which cant be ignored and the biggest evidence is the dramatic spike in weight between ages 3 and 6." this suggests that some genes controlling body weight may become active during this period", added Berkowitz. According to his study, one-third of the children of over-weight women gained weight quickly after turning 3. Of the 37 children of healthy weight women, only one became overweight. Now, all those overweight women, you have one great reason to lose weight and be healthy!

Berkowitz said certain children must carry a combination of genes that make them much more vulnerable to what he calls the 'toxic' western environment, where it is difficult to exercise and food abounds. He doesn't blame diet to be the only factor for obesity. "It doesn't appear to be the factor entirely because we know there are plenty of lean people who eat hamburgers.", he said. " The lean group stays lean but this high risk group really takes off."

Results and studies at US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says 15% of U.S. children are overweight and more than 60% of adults are overweight or obese. Now that's a tummy full statistics for you! Reuters

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