EarlyBird Study about factors in childhood responsible for diabetes & heart disease epidemics

Extracts from Early Bird website: The EarlyBird Study is a 12 year research programme that is observing the health and lifestyle of a cohort of normal healthy children. The aim is to help parents and teachers understand the preventable factors in childhood that are responsible for the current epidemics of diabetes and heart disease. EarlyBird is a cohort study, monitoring the causes and behaviour of insulin resistance in contemporary children. Insulin resistance, largely the result of obesity, is believed to underpin the high prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease that characterises modern society.

The study is generating some novel and sometimes counter-intuitive findings, which have nevertheless withstood the rigours of peer review – over 60 papers are now in print. It has now accumulated eleven annual data sets, and retains over three-quarters of the original cohort.

Key findings in summary:

Obese children – parents unaware and unconcerned - Today's parents are oblivious of their children's weight.
Children's activity not determined by environmental opportunity - Green spaces and sports centres do not influence the physical activity of children
Social inequalities no longer a major factor in obesity - All children today are at risk, regardless of family income or postcode
Obesity leads to inactivity, rather than the other way round - Time-lag analysis from one year to the next suggests obesity comes first
Healthy weight for life? Start at birth - Most excess weight is gained before the child ever starts school
Average pre-pubertal child no heavier than 25 years ago The rise in obesity is confined to a small group of children who are behaving differently from the majority who have not changed in a generation
Taller children are fatter. Children who gain excess weight are taller and more insulin resistant than their shorter peers.
Obese parents, in particular those of the same gender, key to childhood obesity - Daughters of obese mothers are 10 times more likely to be obese than the daughters of normal weight mothers, and the sons of obese fathers six times.
Girls at greater risk of type 2 diabetes than boys - Girls are intrinsically more insulin resistant than boys, which could explain why more girls get type 2 diabetes in childhood
Health risks of childhood obesity unrelated to parents. Although a child's height and weight are related to their parents', the health risks for obese children are much the same, whether or not the parent is obese.
Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes essentially the same disorder of insulin resistance, differing only in tempo

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