A study in the April issue of Pediatrics suggests that infants who rapidly gain weight in the first six months of life are at an increased risk for obesity by age 3, the Los Angeles Times reports. To determine how rapid weight gain in early infancy influences future obesity risk, researchers at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care measured the weight and body length of 559 infants at birth, six months and age 3. Children who gained weight quickly during their first six months were significantly more likely to be obese or at risk of obesity by age 3 than children who gained weight more slowly. For example, a child who weighed 18.4 pounds at six months had a 40 percent greater risk of obesity by age 3 than a child of the same birth weight who weighed 16.9 pounds by six months. The researchers also found that the correlation between rapid weight gain and obesity was a stronger predictor of future obesity risk than high birth weight, parents’ weight or weight gained by the mother during pregnancy. The researchers conclude that rapid weight gain during early infancy is a strong predictor of future obesity risk and call for the development of policies, clinical proto cols and interventions to prevent such weight gain during this period (Shelton, Los Angeles Times, 3/30/09 [registration required]; UPI, 3/30/09; Taveras et al., Pediatrics, April 2009 [subscription required]).