Anne Jaaskelainen, from the University of Eastern Finland, has coordinated a prospective cohort study, which has included a sample of more than 4000 people born in 1986.
She and her team have shown that eating more frequently can modify the effect of a genotype related to obesity in adolescents. The results indicate that a regular pattern of five meals a day attenuates the genetic risks that are associated with the increase in the Body Mass Index. In addition to the general conclusion, other (no less important) secondary ones have been evidenced, such as those that they skipped breakfast, were more likely to be overweight.
Data collection on the study population began before birth, and participants were followed until they were 16 years old. The goal was identify risk factors early in life related to obesity, to investigate the association between the frequency of meals, obesity and metabolic syndrome, and analyze whether the frequency of meals could modulate the effect of common genetic variants related to obesity.
Overweight is also related to the weight gain of parents
The increase of maternal weight of more than seven kilos during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy increases the risk of obesity in the offspring. But nevertheless, Maternal obesity before pregnancy was a more important risk factor than weight gain during pregnancy.
The risk of obesity was surprisingly high in adolescents whose both parents had a BMI of 25 or more during the 16-year follow-up period
These results underscore the importance of adopt healthy eating habits from the family to prevent childhood obesity.
Having five meals a day has been associated with a reduction in the risk of overweight and obesity in both sexes and with a lower risk of abdominal obesity in children.
