Overweight and obesity is a critical public health problem: our aim is to find out whether early low fat intake might increase the child’s likelihood of being overweight in adolescence through suppression of an appetite-regulating hormone (‘early fat programming’).

CACH Team: Caroline Taylor, Pauline Emmett, Louise Jones.

We’re using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parent and Children (ALSPAC) to investigate the links between dietary fat intake in infancy and early childhood, the level of a hormone that regulates appetite and fat stores (leptin) at age 7 years, and the relative amounts of fat and muscle in their bodies during adolescence. We’ll also look at whether there are differences between boys and girls. The results of this study will contribute to the development of strategies for prevention of overweight and obesity by identifying factors that make a child more likely to become overweight or obese.