United States: If a preschooler has not lost excess weight easily, their weight is likely to become a more serious form of childhood obesity by the time they are 9, the study points out.
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Children’s BMI most often declines between the ages of 1 and 6, but they start gaining weight at a slow pace while growing up, researchers recently explained in the journal JAMA Network Open.
BMI stands for Body Mass Index and is worked out using a person’s height and weight.
Just 11% of children show no change in their BMI during the first three and a half years, reported researchers.
Maternal factors, including high maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI), high weight gain during pregnancy, and smoking, were associated with an atypically high BMI trajectory in children, based on data from nearly 9500 children. https://t.co/xvKPj6yRy5 pic.twitter.com/pJK18xaoeq
— Medscape (@Medscape) May 27, 2025
After this, from age 3.5 until they are 9 years old, children’s weight increases quickly.
Almost all the kids in the group gained childhood obesity, their average BMI being higher than 99% of peers, researchers noted.
According to the lead researcher Chang Liu, an assistant professor of psychology at Washington State University, “The fact that we can identify unusual BMI patterns as early as age 3.5 shows how critical early childhood is for preventing obesity,” US News reported.
Experts found that carrying extra weight early in life may make children more susceptible to diabetes and heart problems when they become adults.
For the research, the team examined information from almost 9,500 children who were part of the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes Program, a major program funded by the federal government that follows kids’ health from various states and Puerto Rico.
