Before they've even left the cradle, some children are set on a course toward a lifetime of obesity, a new study has found. Researchers at the Children's Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School say that the combination of bottle-feeding and adding solid food to an infants' diet strongly predisposes them to grow up overweight. In a study of more than 800 babies, the researchers found that formula-fed babies who began eating solid foods before 4 months of age were six times more likely to be obese at age 3 than those weaned later. Breast-fed babies had no increase in obesity incidence. Researchers said the study showed the first months of life to be "a critical window". Too often, parents add cereal to their baby formula in a misguided effort to make their babies healthier, Dr. David McCormick, of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, tells Reuters. "That's exactly how adults get overweight," says McCormick. "They eat a little more than they should every day."
References: Health & Science The Week, "Just the Beginning"
