Research Finds New Cases of Obesity Peak at Ages 8, 26, and 38

Obesity rates have been climbing around the world over the last several decades. Obesity has been associated with several chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

New research from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and published in Epidemiology identified a few target age windows of when people are more prone to develop obesity. These results could potentially serve as opportunities for providers to better cater their prevention efforts during critical time periods when patients are most vulnerable to weight gain.

The researchers combined data from two nationally representative surveys of children and youth—the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997— to look for patterns in how obesity develops between childhood and middle age.

Late Childhood, Mid-20s, and Late 30s Are Vulnerable Periods

The analysis found a few specific periods that may be important for obesity prevention. In addition to prevention during the preschool years, which is already known to be important, the study suggests that additional windows for obesity prevention are at age 8, age 26, and age 38.

The study estimated that approximately 56% of children born in the 1990s, who are now in their 20s, will have obesity by age 41 in the mid 2030s.

“As we age, our weight increases and many people develop obesity, even those who did not have obesity in childhood,” says Solveig Cunningham, PhD, senior author of the study. “However, obesity increases in spurts and there are ages at which more people develop obesity. Our findings indicate that today’s young adults are likely to experience increases in obesity as they enter midlife, even compared with recent cohorts, in which obesity is already widespread. Incidence is especially high at three peaks over the first four decades of life, and these may be periods of especially high risk or opportunities for prevention.”