Fat babies — fat adults

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33601, 1 August 1974, Page 18

Fat babies — fat adults

The old adage “A fat baby is a healthy baby” was being replaced by “A fat baby will be a fat adult,” an American paediatrician said in Christchurch yesterday. Dr H. P. Chase, associate professor of paediatrics at the University of Colorado, said that 80 per cent of fat babies became fat adults, and surveys had shown that 33 per cent of fat adults had been fat children. The first year of life was a critical period in the forming of fat cells in the body. lif anything was done to encourage the production of these of fat cells in the body. If probably grow up fat. I Many mothers gave their

babies solids too early. There was no reason to give them cereals when only one or two months old and an excess of carbohydrates was unnecessary, said Dr Chase. Weight-for-age charts were available and doctors should give mothers an eating programme for their babies if they were overweight. It was easier to control a person’s diet when he was a baby! than later in life. HEART ATTACKS A family history of early heart attacks should alert! doctors to look for risk factors in the child population, said Dr Chase. Studies in research laboratories at the University of Colorado showed that 29 per cent of the children of early heart ajtack victims had raised

levels of fats in their blood.: He recommended that| children found to have raised] fat levels should have their diet changed to reduce the! level. If that did not work| they should be given medi-; cines. “If we are going to reduce; the high incidence of heart disease in our society we will have to start and treat it in the early years.” Dr Chase advocated doctors asking patients if they had any family history of heart disease. If so, their children should be screened perhaps once a year from the time they were a year old. Dr Chase is in Christchurch to attend and address the annual paediatric course run by the Paediatric Society of New Zealand.