Low body adiposity and high leptinemia in breast-fed infants born small-for-gestational-age.

Breast-fed infants born small-for-gestational-age (SGA) (n = 28) were found to develop lower adiposity across early infancy, when compared with appropriate-for-gestational age infants (n = 46). The SGA infants were also found to have 2-fold higher (P < .001) levels of circulating leptin at 4 months. This paradoxical hyperleptinemia in early infancy may contribute to a program that produces a process from fetal underweight to adult overweight.