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The Weight of Summer: Children's Fat and Body Mass Index Gain Accelerate during Summer

R GlennWeaver1, Olivia Finnegan1, James W White1

  • 1University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.

Childhood Obesity (Print)
|May 26, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Summer is a critical period for childhood obesity prevention, as children gain significant body fat during this time. This study found that summer months account for 93% of annual percent body fat gain in children.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric obesity
  • Childhood growth and development
  • Public health and nutrition

Background:

  • Accelerated summer body mass index (BMI) gain in children is a known phenomenon.
  • Previous research has not investigated whether this BMI increase is associated with changes in body composition, specifically percent body fat (%BF).

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if accelerated summer BMI gain in children is accompanied by increased percent body fat (%BF).
  • To identify critical periods for childhood obesity prevention efforts.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from the Healthy Seasons observational cohort (N = 418, mean age = 7.1 years).
  • Measured children's height, weight, and %BF at four time points (January, May, August, December) over three years (2023-2025).
  • Analyzed monthly changes in BMI and %BF during school and summer periods.

Main Results:

  • Children exhibited significantly higher monthly BMI gain during summer (0.119) compared to the school year (0.067).
  • Summer months accounted for 36% of annual BMI gain.
  • Monthly %BF gain was substantially higher in summer (0.456) versus the school year (0.009).
  • Summer months represented 93% of the total annual %BF gain.

Conclusions:

  • Summer-related BMI increases in children are strongly associated with significant gains in percent body fat.
  • Summer emerges as a critical window for implementing targeted obesity prevention strategies in children.

Keywords:
childrenobesityoverweightpolicy

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