– According to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, overweight kindergartners have high risk to be obese in fifth grade and 5-year-old overweight children are four times more likely to be obese by eighth grade. About 15 percent of the children involved in the survey were considered overweight while about 12 percent of them were considered obese.

– This research shows the critical importance of the early years in the setting of long-term patterns in matter of weight development. This is a strong incentive to control the weight development of young children as well as the nutrition habits in families. “The present results indicate that the lower the relative BMI of a given child at kindergarten entrance, the lower the risk of obesity by eighth grade,” wrote the scientists.

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