BMI at age 10, growth rate up to 18 key for diabetes, heart disease: Study

New Delhi: A study modelling how genes may influence a child's body mass index over time has found that BMI at age 10 and overall growth rate between ages one and 18 might be important factors, as the two are more likely linked to diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease in later life.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, could help better understand the underlying biology of healthy growth across childhood, author Nicole Warrington, senior research fellow at the University of Queensland in Australia, said.

"We found that about one quarter of the differences in how children's body weight changes from age one to 18 years is due to genetics," Warrington said.

The result "indicates that we are ignoring important information when assessing growth based on population averages," the author said.

Nearly 66,000 BMI measurements from around 6,300 children and adolescents aged one to 18 were analysed to understand the role of genes.

Analysing children's growth over time, rather than at a single age, helped the researchers see how a child's genetics influences the rate at which they grow, author Geng Wang, postdoctoral research fellow from the University of Queensland, said.