title: Velocities of weight, height and fat mass gain during potentially critical periods of growth are decisive for adult body composition.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether maximal velocities of weight, height and fat mass during potentially critical periods of growth were associated with body composition in young adulthood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Analyses were performed on 277 female and 271 male participants of the DOrtmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) study with anthropometric measurements in young adulthood (18-25 years) as well as early life (0-2 years), mid-childhood (3-8 years) or puberty (9-15 years). Maximum growth velocities were calculated using the SuperImposition by Translation And Rotation (SITAR) routine or polynomial functions and related to adult fat mass index (FMI) and fat-free mass index (FFMI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In early life, faster weight gain was associated with a moderately higher FMI and FFMI in young adulthood in women only (Ptrend=0.01). In mid-childhood and puberty, weight and fat mass velocities were related to adult FMI and FFMI in both sexes (Ptrend⩽0.002): relative differences between the highest and lowest tertiles of these growth velocities ranged 33-69% for adult FMI and 6-12% for adult FFMI. A higher mid-childhood height velocity was related to a modestly higher adult FMI in women only (Ptrend=0.0005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Faster gain in weight and body fat during mid-childhood and puberty appear to be particularly relevant for adult fat mass.
authors.affiliation: 1] West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China [2] IEL-Nutritional Epidemiology, University of Bonn, DONALD Study at the Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund, Germany [3] Department of Nutritional, Food and Consumer Sciences, Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Fulda, Germany.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: IEL-Nutritional Epidemiology, University of Bonn, DONALD Study at the Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bolzenius
authors.affiliation: IEL-Nutritional Epidemiology, University of Bonn, DONALD Study at the Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund, Germany.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Joslowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional, Food and Consumer Sciences, Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Fulda, Germany.
authors.forename: A L B
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Günther
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional, Food and Consumer Sciences, Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Fulda, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kroke
authors.affiliation: Institute of Epidemiology I, Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen-German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.identifier: 0000000296201629
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heinrich
authors.affiliation: IEL-Nutritional Epidemiology, University of Bonn, DONALD Study at the Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund, Germany.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Buyken
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000378:metabolism*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D001823:Body Composition; D001825:Body Fluid Compartments / Q000378:metabolism; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D011627:Puberty; D012737:Sex Factors; D012741:Sexual Maturation; D015430:Weight Gain; D055815:Young Adult