Infant and toddlers are at greater risk for obesity later in life if they don't get enough sleep in the first few years of life, reports a new study.
Earlier research indicated such a cause-result pattern for children four years or older, but the new report drops that age element to infancy to mid-childhood.
"Insufficient sleep is an independent and strong risk factor for childhood obesity and the accumulation of total fat and abdominal fat," said studyresearcher Dr. Elsie Taveras, chief of general pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston.
Two experts in the field of obesity and nutrition say it's time to throw out the diet plans, stop counting calories as a weight-loss strategy, and start stockpiling the pantry with rapidly digestible carbohydrates.
"With reduced consumption of refined grains, concentrated sugar and potato products and a few other sensible lifestyle choices, our internal body weight control system should be able to do the rest," state the two experts in a column published Sunday. "Addressing the underlying biological drive to overeat may make for a far more practical and effective solution to obesity than counting calories," they claim.
The infant sleep-obesity report, published May 19 in Pediatrics, states excess body fat in very young years can serve as a diving-off point for health issues later in life, including diabetes and heart disease.
The study involved 1,000 children and their sleep patterns. Children who got the least sleep are 2.5 times more inclined to be obese than those who slept more, states the study. They are also likely to have 2.5 times higher body fat, say the researchers.
"If you sleep too little, it disrupts some of the hormones that regulate how hungry we are and how full we are," Taveras said.
"Contrary to some published studies, we did not find a particular 'critical period' for the influence of sleep duration on weight gain. Instead, insufficient sleep at any time in early childhood had adverse effects," she said.
