Childhood obesity is a major problem that can increase the risk of metabolic diseases like dyslipidemia, diabetes, hypertension and sleep apnea. Although various genetic causes can appear as obesity in childhood, most obesity in childhood is related to calorie excess on a background of genetic influences.
Although there are limited studies to address this issue, studies have shown that childhood obesity tracks into adulthood. For example, in a model that tracked obesity from 2 years to 35 years, the relative risk of obesity as an adult( at 35 years) was 1.3 times if you were obese at two years and 2 times if you were obese at 19 years. However, the converse is not true; not all people obese at 35 years were obese as children.
Hence it is essential to plan healthy diets and lifestyle changes in children.