While you may consider your chubby baby as healthy, he may, in fact, be suffering from a weight problem. The ‘tipping point’ in obesity often occurs before two years of life, and sometimes as early as when a child is just three months old, cautions a novel research.

However, early intervention could be a key to solving obesity crisis as well as containing the health issues related to obesity in later life, suggests the study.

Details and outcome of the study
To reach this conclusion, researchers analyzed the medical records of 111 patients with an alarming body mass index (BMI) in the age group of two to 20 at a private medical practice, and a teaching hospital, in Virginia.

On analysis, it was found that weight problems appeared to occur at a tender age of just three months so that by age two, almost half of the kids had already reached the obese mark on the BMI.

And by their fifth birthday, 90 percent of the children were shown to be obese.

The researchers noted that these children had started gaining weight at an average rate of .08 excess BMI units per month while still in babyhood.

The obese babies may grow up as obese teens which may put them at a risk of health problems like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol levels, warned the researchers.

Early intervention could help
The study recommends that screening for excessive weight gain should begin "as early as possible" in order to prevent childhood obesity, rather than trying to reverse the condition once it has "spiralled out of control."

It also calls for an early monitoring into the diets, and healthy eating patterns of babies and toddlers who may appear to develop a weight problem in later life.

Study leader Dr John Harrington, an assistant professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, said the results should be a "wake-up call for doctors."

"Too often, doctors wait until medical complications arise before they begin treatment. Our study suggests that doctors may want to start reviewing the diet of children during early 'well-child' visits," he added.

“Getting parents and children to change habits that have already taken hold is a monumental challenge fraught with road-blocks and disappointments. This study indicates that we may need to discuss inappropriate weight gain early in infancy to effect meaningful changes in the current trend of obesity."

The study has been published in the Journal Pediatrics.

Obesity--a serious medical condition
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat accumulates to the extent that it could lead to adverse health, and reduced life expectancy.

If your BMI, a combination of height and weight, is higher than 30, this implies that your body weight might put your health at risk.

The excess body fat is a potential risk factor for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, sleep apnea, and stroke.

Shedding that extra flab is very vital because of the risks attached. Proper diet and exercise are the only ways to beat that extra fat.