Infants Who Don’t Respond To Body Signals Of “Fullness” May Be On Track For Adult Obesity

A British study that compared same-age, same-sex babies in the same family revealed that a hearty appetite, and unresponsiveness to satiety signals, in infancy may be a portent of future obesity. The researchers analyzed data – measures of satiety responsiveness and food responsiveness – from non-identical, same-sex twins born in the U.K. in 2007. Infant twins who were more food responsive or less satiety responsive grew faster than their co-twins. The researchers advised parents to be alert for these tendencies because this behavior could put a growing child at risk of gaining weight too fast, putting on an unhealthy amount of weight, and being obese as an adult.