My first thoughts, “Are you kidding me? There is no way that you can predict human behavior well enough to determine if a child will be obese from their first breath of life.” The formula that is used to estimate childhood obesity at birth has several factors in the equation: birth weight, body mass index of the parents, number of people in the household, mother’s professional status (really?), and if the mother smoked while pregnant. You can check out the formula here, and find out your child’s risk of obesity.

The formula has proven to be accurate in Finland, the United States, and in Italy. So it surprisingly is pretty accurate. The website gives you an actual percentage of your child’s predicted probability. I think the percentage is very helpful instead of just telling you that your child is at risk for obesity. I know I would listen to my doctor more if he told me my child was 90% at risk vs 10% at risk for becoming obese.

It does not surprise me one bit that moms account for three of the factors in the equation, and dads just factor in one account. Even with many working moms and more and more dads involved with family life, moms still have such an important role in feeding their kids. Whether that be packing a lunch, grocery shopping, cooking, or just eating in front of our kids, all of these seemingly minor tasks have such a huge impact on our children’s eating habits.

The purpose of the formula is not for parents to stress more, but to make parents aware that their children are at risk. Childhood obesity is currently affecting 1 out of 3 children. It is really difficult for children to become a healthy weight once they are obese. It is much easier to prevent obesity from the beginning. The hope is that if parents were aware of the danger their child faces from the very beginning, then they would make wise decisions about feeding their child as early as possible. Hopefully this information would help empower and motivate parents to keep their children at a healthy weight and consequently help eliminate the obesity epidemic.

Let me know what you think. If a doctor told you that your newborn had an 80% risk of becoming obese would you do anything with that information?