all Matthew Gillman stories

Suboptimal sleep, TV watching correlate with overweight in infants and toddlers

404132862 — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:25:02 -0400

Infants and toddlers who sleep less than 12 hours a day are twice as likely to become overweight by age 3 than children who sleep longer. In addition, high levels of television viewing combined with less sleep elevate the risk, so that children who sleep less than 12 hours and who view two or more hours of television per day have a 16 percent chance of becoming overweight by age 3.

Obesity begins in the womb

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:06:37 -0400

The obesity epidemic in the United States has spread to include children under 6 years old and particularly infants, according to a Harvard study.

The study of 120,680 kids is the largest to date to report on such young children. During the 22-year period covered, medical records reveal that the prevalence of overweight children less than 6 years old jumped 59 percent, from 6.3 to 10 percent.

The results show surprising increases in the number of overweight children up to 6 months old. From 1980 to 2001, the increase in overweight infants ballooned 74 percent.

"The obesity epidemic has spared no age group," says Matthew Gillman, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. "These results show that efforts to prevent obesity must start even before birth."

Weight status of children ages 8 to 15 predicts obesity and high blood pressure in adulthood

50443248 — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:28:58 -0400

New research shows that children between 8 and 15 years old who are in the upper half of the normal weight range are more likely than their leaner peers to become obese or overweight as young adults. This research was conducted over nearly a decade at the Harvard Medical School (HMS), Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, and Children's Hospital Boston and is reported in this month's Obesity Research journal.

Weight status of children ages 8 to 15 predicts obesity and high blood pressure in adulthood

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:18:46 -0400

"We have known that kids who are overweight or obese have a higher risk for being overweight or obese as adults. But in this paper, we show that even children in the high normal weight range have an elevated risk of becoming overweight or obese as adults," said lead author Alison Field, assistant professor of pediatrics at HMS and Children's Hospital Boston.

The researchers recorded the weight, height, and blood pressure of East Boston children from 8 to 15 years old. They were again evaluated eight to 12 years later. Results showed that nearly half of the male subjects and nearly a quarter of the female subjects became overweight or obese between their first visit and their follow-up.

The results also revealed that boys with higher childhood BMI's were at greater risk for hypertension in young adulthood.

"These findings underscore that even children who are in the high normal weight range may have adverse outcomes later in life, and our challenge may be even greater than we thought," said Matthew Gillman, senior author on the paper and associate professor of ambulatory care and prevention at Harvard Medical School. He stresses that not only obese children, but also slightly overweight children, demand attention.

Breast-feeding may limit teenage obesity

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:12:31 -0400

Infants who were breast-fed more than formula-fed, or who were breast-fed for longer periods, had approximately 20 percent lower risk of being overweight in their preteen and teen years, according to a recent study. In this study, breast-feeding included feeding infants breast milk extracted from breast pumps. The implications are dramatic. "Breast-feeding may prevent obesity later in life," said lead author Matthew Gillman, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. "Our study, along with others, supports the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics to breast-feed infants for the first year." The study followed 15,000 boys and girls. The research findings were reported in the May 16 Journal of the American Medical Association.