Obesity can be detected in two months old babies

There are higher chances of a two-month old baby being obese by the age of two if they have high body mass index (BMI).

According to researchers, using weight-for-length is a better indicator of child obesity.

They encourage parents to adopt healthier food and lifestyle options for babies from an early age.

"An important factor in preventing obesity in adults is identifying at-risk individuals as early as possible, when interventions may have the greatest effect--even during infancy," says lead author Sani Roy, a hormone specialist fellow at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

The researchers analysed medical records of nearly 74,000 full-term infants seen during their first two years at well-child visits from 2006 to 2011 and found out 31 per cent of two-month-old babies with BMI at or above the 85th percentile were obese at age two, compared to 23 per cent of two-month-olds at the 85th percentile.

At the 97.7th percentile for BMI at age two months, 47 per cent of babies were obese at age two years compared to 29 per cent by Weight for Length.