The proportion of weight gain due to change in fat mass in infants with vs without rapid growth
Year: 2024
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND: There is extensive evidence that rapid infant weight gain increases the risk of childhood obesity, but this is normally based on childhood body mass index (BMI) only and whether or not this is because infants with rapid weight gain accrue greater fat mass is unknown. OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of our study was to test whether the proportion of infant weight gain due to concurrent increases in fat mass is greater in infants with rapid weight gain as compared to those with normal growth. METHODS: Body composition was assessed by (1) air-displacement plethysmography (ADP) at 0 and 6 months in 342 infants from Australia, India, and South Africa and (2) deuterium dilution (DD) at 3 and 24 months in 555 infants from Brazil, Pakistan, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. Weight gain and length growth were each categorized as slow, normal, or rapid using cut-offs of <-0.67 or >+0.67 Z-scores. Regression was used to estimate and contrast the percentages of weight change due to fat mass change. RESULTS: Approximately 40% of the average weight gain between 0 and 6 months and 20% of the average weight gain between 3 and 24 months was due to increase in fat mass. In both samples, compared to the normal group, the proportion of weight gain due to fat mass was higher on average among infants with rapid weight gain and lower among infants with slow weight gain, with considerable individual variability. Conversely, slow and rapid length growth was not associated with differential gains in fat mass. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatricians should monitor infant growth with the understanding that, while crossing upward through the weight centiles generally is accompanied by greater adiposity gains (not just higher BMI), upward crossing through the length centiles is not.
Authors: William Johnson, Lukhanyo H. Nyati, Shabina Ariff, Tanvir Ahmad, Nuala M. Byrne, Leila I. Cheikh Ismail, Caroline S. Costa, Ellen W. Demerath, Divya J. Priscilla, Andrew P. Hills, Rebecca Kuriyan, Anura V. Kurpad, Cornelia U. Loechl, M. Nishani Lucas, Ina S. Santos, Christine Slater, V. Pujitha Wickramasinghe, Shane A. Norris, Alexia J. Murphy-Alford
Institutions: Loughborough University, South African Medical Research Council, University of the Witwatersrand, University of the Western Cape, Aga Khan University, Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Tasmania, University of Sharjah, University of Oxford, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, University of Minnesota, International Atomic Energy Agency, University of Colombo, University of Southampton
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,990
Award: G7941804579
OpenAlex ID: W4404061123