Study in South Asian children finds factors in early life linked to childhood obesity

New Delhi: Pregnancy-related changes such as obesity and weight gain were related with adiposity -- having excess fatty tissue in the body -- in South Asian children, according to a study. Consuming a healthy diet, including poultry, eggs, fruits, vegetables, seafood and refined grains (such as puri, idli and dosa), during pregnancy was, however, found to be related with reduced adiposity.

Published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open, the study looked at over 900 children of South Asian descent to understand factors that can be addressed in the first three years of life to potentially prevent obesity.

The researchers, including those from Canada's McMaster University, also found that a child, who was breastfed for at least a year, was physically active, had a reduced screen time and had lower chances of becoming obese as a child.

"We know that current measures of childhood obesity such as the body mass index (BMI) don't work well for South Asians because of the so called 'thin-fat' phenotype -- South Asian newborns are characterized as low birth weight, but proportionally higher body fat or central obesity (a 'thin-fat' phenotype) relative to White Europeans, and this pattern persists in fourth generation migrated populations," said first author Sandi Azab, an assistant professor at the department of medicine, McMaster University.

"Most studies focus on specific points in time and mostly involve White European families, highlighting the need for more research on different ethnic groups and tracking obesity over the child's early years rather than a single point in time," Azab added.

The team proposed that in clinical and public health settings, children be scored on the basis of the factors identified in the study to detect those at risk of obesity, for whom interventions can be targeted.

The policies such as programs offering subsidised maternal nutrition can support healthier life trajectories, the researchers said.

"In this cohort study of South Asian children, six modifiable factors were associated with lower adiposity and combined into a single score," the authors wrote.

"This score may be useful in clinical and public health settings to help mitigate childhood obesity in South Asian individuals and beyond," they added.