Infant Growth and Long-term Cardiometabolic Health: a Review of Recent Findings.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Infant weight gain is recognized to increase obesity risk across the lifespan. This review evaluates recent evidence relating growth in infancy to childhood, adolescent and adult body composition, and cardiometabolic risk factors.

RECENT FINDINGS

Greater weight or BMI gains in infancy increase both fat mass and fat-free mass in later life, but may preferentially contribute to central adiposity. Impacts of infant growth on cardiometabolic health are mixed, and most findings are attenuated after adjusting for current body size. Infant weight gain, length gain, and BMI changes are important in establishing risk for cardiometabolic health across the lifespan. Infant growth effects on cardiometabolic health may be indirect, acting through changes in obesity risk or body composition.