title: Effect of birth weight and postnatal weight gain on body composition in early infancy: The Generation R Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rapid postnatal weight gain is associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes in later life. The influence of rapid weight gain on body composition in early infancy is still unknown and the critical periods of weight gain for later disease are debated.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effect of birth weight and rapid weight gain on body composition in the first 6 months of life.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Generation R Study, a population-based prospective cohort study from fetal life onwards.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured body fat and fat distribution by skinfold thickness at the age of 6 weeks and 6 months in 909 Dutch term infants. Analyses were adjusted for current body mass index, sex and maternal socioeconomic status, pre-pregnancy body mass index, height and duration of breastfeeding.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Upward postnatal weight percentile change was associated with increased skinfold thickness, percentage body fat at 6 weeks and 6 months and a larger truncal/peripheral fat ratio at 6 months (p<0.01 for all). Birth weight was inversely associated with truncal/peripheral fat ratio (p<0.01) but not with relative body fat at 6 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  During early postnatal rapid weight gain infants do not grow in all body tissues in equal measure. Instead, they acquire relatively large amounts of fat, which is preferentially distributed to the truncal region. Long term observational studies have to assess if such changes in body composition persist into adulthood.
authors.affiliation: The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Holzhauer
authors.forename: Anita C S
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Hokken Koelega
authors.forename: Maria de
authors.initials: Md
authors.lastname: Ridder
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hofman
authors.forename: Henriette A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Moll
authors.forename: Eric A P
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Steegers
authors.forename: Jacqueline C M
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Witteman
authors.forename: Vincent W V
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Jaddoe
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009426:Netherlands; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000502:physiology*