New estimates place 12.5% of children as obese. Though most efforts target schoolchildren, new reports say this is not earlier enough. The best time to prevent weight problems may be in infancy and more likely, the womb, reports Roni Rabin in Tuesday’s Science Times. She writes:

New research suggests that interventions aimed at school-aged children may be, if not too little, too late.

More and more evidence points to pivotal events very early in life — during the toddler years, infancy and even before birth, in the womb — that can set young children on an obesity trajectory that is hard to alter by the time they’re in kindergarten. The evidence is not ironclad, but it suggests that prevention efforts should start very early.

Experts say change may require abandoning some cherished cultural attitudes. “The idea that a big baby is a healthy baby, and a crying baby is probably a hungry baby who should be fed, are things we really need to rethink,” Dr. Birch said.

During my time at Bastyr University I remember vividly the day in class when our professor told us that current studies were showing our efforts to reach school aged children were not enough. We (nutrition students) all gasped and looked at each other. How could this be? Most of us were going through school to help this generation and it seemed all for not. The more I have researched this, the more studies have revealed, the uterine environment should be the focus of our interventions.

Robin Rabin’s story eludes to the new efforts are being made to reach deeper into the development of the child, in utero, in the hopes that childhood obesity will be warded off.

To learn more, read the full story, “Baby Fat May Not Be So Cute After All”

Angela Pifer, MSN, CN Seattle Nutritionist

Seattle Weight Loss Program that gets results! Angela works locally as well as nationally through Skype

www.NutritionNorthwest.com