BMI: Researchers have found that the way genes shape a child’s body mass index over time may offer useful clues about future health risks, with BMI around age 10 and overall growth patterns between ages one and 18 emerging as especially relevant.
The study, published in Nature Communications, suggests these stages of growth may be more closely tied to later risks such as diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease. According to the researchers, the findings could improve understanding of the biology behind healthy childhood growth.
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Nicole Warrington, senior research fellow at the University of Queensland in Australia and one of the study’s authors, said the analysis showed genetics plays a meaningful role in how body weight changes across childhood.
The team found that roughly one-quarter of the variation in children’s weight change between ages one and 18 could be linked to genetic factors, Warrington said. She added that relying only on population averages to assess growth may overlook important individual differences.
The research drew on nearly 66,000 BMI measurements taken from about 6,300 children and adolescents between the ages of one and 18.
By tracking growth over time instead of looking at BMI at just one age, the researchers were able to examine how genetics may influence the pace of growth across childhood and adolescence, said Geng Wang, postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Queensland and co-author of the study.
Wang said the findings may offer reassurance to parents who worry when a child gains weight early or appears to grow differently from others, noting that genetic variation can shape those patterns.
The researchers also found that the genetic influences linked to body size in infancy may not be the same as those affecting body size during the teenage years.
Wang said the results indicate that body size differences in younger children should not automatically be seen as a sign of lifelong obesity risk.
The authors said more research is needed to determine the ages at which interventions for obesity or poor growth could have the greatest long-term benefit.
The data used in the analysis came from the long-running “Children of the 90s” study based at the University of Bristol in the UK, which has tracked environmental and genetic influences on health and development over time.
