Adhering to a healthy lifestyle at age 4 years is associated with a decreased risk of overweight, obesity, and abdominal obesity at 7 years, according to a study published in Pediatric Obesity.
The study assessed five lifestyle behaviors--physical activity, sleep duration, television watching, ultra-processed food consumption, and plant-based food consumption--in 1,480 children when they were 4 years of age.
Limited TV time and low consumption of ultra-processed foods, along with high sleep time, physical activity, and consumption of plant-based foods, were associated with lower body mass index and waist circumference and a lower likelihood of developing overweight or obesity and abdominal obesity at age 7 years.
Longer TV viewing was the lifestyle factor that was most strongly associated with the development of obesity.
Source:
Journal reference:
Bawaked, R. A. et al. (2019) Impact of lifestyle behaviors in early childhood on obesity and cardiometabolic risk in children: Results from the Spanish INMA birth cohort study. Pediatric Obesity. doi.org/10.1111/ijpo.12590.
By 2050, two-thirds of adults and one-third of adolescents could face obesity in the US