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Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
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Childhood cognitive ability and body composition in adulthood.
S M Kumpulainen1, K Heinonen1, M K Salonen2,3
1Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Nutrition & Diabetes
|August 16, 2016
Summary
Childhood cognitive abilities, specifically visuomotor integration, were linked to adult body fat percentage. Lower early cognitive skills may not predict higher body fat in adulthood, challenging previous assumptions.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Developmental Psychology
- Obesity Research
Background:
- Childhood cognitive ability is a novel risk factor for adult overweight and obesity.
- Adult Body Mass Index (BMI) does not differentiate between fat-free mass and harmful fat tissue.
- This study investigates the link between early cognitive skills and adult body fat percentage (BF%).
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between childhood cognitive abilities and body fat percentage (BF%) in young adulthood.
- To determine if early cognitive function predicts later adiposity.
- To differentiate the impact of various cognitive skills on body composition.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 816 participants from the Arvo Ylppö Longitudinal Study.
- Cognitive tests (general reasoning, visuomotor integration, verbal competence, language comprehension) administered at 56 months of age.
- Body fat percentage (BF%), BMI, and waist circumference measured at 25 years of age.
Main Results:
- Lower childhood general reasoning and visuomotor integration predicted increased adult BMI and waist circumference.
- Lower childhood visuomotor integration specifically predicted higher adult body fat percentage (BF%).
- These associations were attenuated after adjusting for lifestyle factors, education, and birth weight.
Conclusions:
- Only lower childhood visuomotor integration was significantly associated with higher adult body fat percentage (BF%).
- This finding challenges the notion that general childhood cognitive ability is a risk factor for adult adiposity, as measured by BF%.
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