Skipping breakfast and not enough sleep can make children overweight

Mothers smoking in pregnancy, children skipping breakfast and not having a regular bedtime or sufficient sleep all appear to be important factors in predicting whether a child will become overweight or obese, according to new research led by UCL. All three are early life factors which can be modified and the research highlights the possibility that prompt intervention could have an impact in curbing the growth in childhood overweight and obesity. The paper, which was published in US journal Pediatrics , is the first research in the UK to look at the patterns of body mass index (BMI) weight development in the first 10 years of a child's life and to examine the lifestyle factors that appear to predict weight gain. Being overweight or obese is linked to a child having poorer mental health, which can extend into adolescence and adulthood. This poorer psychosocial well-being includes low self-esteem, unhappiness as well as risky behaviours such as cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. The research is based on the Millennium Cohort Study, a study of children born into 19,244 families in the UK between September 2000 and January 2002. Data on weight and height was collected when the children were 3, 5, 7 and 11. This research used observational information which does not allow firm cause and effect conclusions to be drawn. However the results are based on data from thousands of children and the researchers were able to take account of many of the influences on the development of a child's weight.  'It is well known that children of overweight or obese mothers are more likely to be overweight themselves, probably reflecting the 'obesogenic?