Toddlers who are skinny at 2 and then rapidly gain weight are up to three times more likely to develop heart disease as adults, a new study says.
The research, led by David Barker, was carried out at Oregon Health and Science University in the United States and the University of Southampton in Britain.
It suggested that it is the rate of weight gain between the ages of 2 and 11 that most strongly relates to the risk of heart disease in adult life.
Barker and colleagues studied the growth histories of over 8,700 people born in Finland between 1934 and 1944.
"The children who are at risk of coronary heart disease are not the fat children, but those who were thin but are putting on weight rapidly," Barker told New Scientist.
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
