That babies born small are always small would not be true, according to a study that indicates that children born small for gestational age, that is to say of smaller size than those with the same amount of weeks of gestation, are more likely to develop visceral adiposity (fatness) in the abdomen.
They have discovered that these children are usually overweight at the age of 6 years and that although they do not develop obesity and reach a normal body mass index for their age they have more visceral fat than those of the same age born with adequate size to gestational age.
Unlike subcutaneous fat, visceral is formed between the internal organs, and specifically visceral adiposity is the fat accumulated around the abdominal organs.
It could be because young children at birth suffer from the so-called rapid growth effect in childhood.
They have also found that these children mostly presented very high levels of insulin as well as a growth and development related hormone called IGF-1.
You have to be cautious with these types of studies. It does not mean that all children who have been born small will develop overweight in childhood, but according to what the study points out, it is not so far-fetched to think that the growing number of babies with low birth weight could be related to increase in childhood obesity
In any case, we will be awaiting further investigation in this regard.
