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Know if your baby will gain weight by age four

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New York: Measuring body mass index (BMI) during infancy may help to predict if a child will be obese by age four, says a study.

The findings suggest that understanding of infant growth patterns may lead to more effective early efforts at obesity prevention.

As a measure that includes both weight and height, BMI is an approximation of body fat content.

“We also analysed ancestry-based differences in growth patterns and found differences that were apparent as early as nine months of age were ultimately related to childhood obesity risk,” said study leader Shana McCormack, pediatric endocrinologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

The current study analysed the electronic health records of 2,114 healthy infants in Philadelphia.

“We investigated whether BMI in infants could be used as a tool to identify children at increased risk of future obesity, in order to develop better prevention strategies,” McCormack noted.

The current study analysed the electronic health records of 2,114 healthy Philadelphia-area infants, as part of a larger study conducted by CHOP’s Center for Applied Genomics.

Sixty-one percent of the children in the study cohort were African-American, a population that, according to national estimates, has high rates of obesity and diabetes in adulthood.

The research team identified significantly different growth trajectories between African-American infants and infants of European ancestry.

Peak infant BMI occurred around 12 days earlier in African-American children, and was about three percent higher in magnitude than others in the study, who were primarily of European ancestry.

BMI increases after birth, reaching its peak in infancy, usually between eight and nine months of age, the study pointed out.

Overall, African-American infants appeared to have more than twice the risk of obesity at age four compared to infants of primarily European ancestry.

The study appeared in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Corona

Covid toll in Karnataka is a worrying sign for state government

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Even though Karnataka recorded the lowest number of Covid deaths in April since the virus struck first in 2020, the state is recording a rise in the positivity rate (1.50 per cent). Five people died from the Covid infections in April as per the statistics released by the state health department. In March, the positivity rate stood around 0.53 per cent. In the first week of April it came down to 0.38 per cent, second week registered 0.56 per cent, third week it rose to 0.79 per cent and by end of April the Covid positivity rate touched 1.19 per cent.

on an average 500 persons used to succumb everyday in the peak of Covid infection, as per the data. Health experts said that the mutated Coronavirus is losing its fierce characteristics as vaccination, better treatment facilities and awareness among the people have contributed to the lesser number of Covid deaths.

During the 4th and 6th of April two deaths were reported in Bengaluru, one in Gadag district on April 8, two deaths were reported from Belagavi and Vijayapura on April 30. The first Covid case was reported in the state in March 2020 and three Covid deaths were recorded in the month. In the following month 21 people became victims to the deadly virus, and May 2020 recorded 22 deaths. The death toll recorded everyday after May crossed three digits. However, the third wave, which started in January 2

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