The Mail on Sunday
London, UK
28 January, 2007
Too little fat 'can make children overweight'
Children who eat too little fat can end up overweight, a new study has found.
Researchers in Sweden discovered that eating the right sort of fat kept the weight of children down.
Those who were significantly overweight consumed low amounts of unsaturated fat, the type found in fish, olive oil and vegetables.
Scientists at Goteborg University looked at the eating habits and lifestyles of almost 200 healthy four-year-olds.
Body Mass Index (BMI) measurements that relate weight and height showed that 23 per cent of the children were overweight and 2 per cent clinically obese.
Most of the children came from good socio-economic backgrounds. The researchers said a broader range of children would probably have yielded more who were overweight.
Examination of the children revealed that weight increases were due to the body storing too much fat - but those who ate the most fat were not the heaviest with children who ate less fat having higher BMI readings.
The researchers believe lack of omega-3 fat, mainly found in oily fish such as herring, mackerel and sardines, was especially significant.
Dietician Malin Haglund Garemo, who led the team, said: "Every third child in the study ate far too little unsaturated fat, above all too little omega-3. These children had significantly higher body weight. This supports other studies that show that obese children have shortages of omega-3."
The researchers found that the eating habits of many children fell a long way short of healthy diet guidelines.
On average, they ate only 140 grams of fruit and vegetables per day, compared with the recommended 400 grams.
A fifth of the children were getting insufficient calcium, and 70 per cent were deficient in iron.
One quarter of the children's total energy intake came from sweets, ice cream, biscuits and soft drinks.
A key finding was that children with the highest insulin levels had gained the most weight since birth.
The association was most pronounced in girls, said the researchers in a report published online by the Swedish Research Council. Insulin production was lower in girls who ate more unsaturated fat.
"We plan to pursue more studies to see if the early increase in insulin is causing obesity," said Ms Garemo. "Such results would go against the common perception that fat causes increased insulin production as a result of insulin resistance."
Insulin resistance occurs when the body ceases to respond to insulin, the essential hormone that regulates the take-up of sugar energy sources.
Childhood obesity has reached epidemic levels in the UK and other western countries.
In England alone, obesity incidence in children aged two to 10 rose from 9.9 per cent to 13.4 per cent between 1995 and 2004.
More than 1.7 million children in England are expected to be obese by the year 2010.
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Too little fat 'can make children overweight'
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