A study has recently been published in the Archive of Disease in Chilhood magazine that highlights that being born by caesarean section increases the risk of obesity in early childhood.
The researchers, who belong to the Department of Gastroenterology and Nutrition of the Boston Hospital based their work on 1255 children born between 1999 and 2002 who were followed up to three years.
The result of the investigation was that children born by caesarean section were obese in almost 16% of cases at 3 years, while those born vaginally were obese only in 7% of cases.
The analysis of the data took into account other factors that also favor childhood obesity, such as feeding with artificial milk or excessive use of television, without influencing the results.
Although if they mention that the fact that obese mothers suffer more caesarean sections, their conclusion is that Caesarean section, by itself, is a factor that favors childhood obesity, possibly due to the different composition of the intestinal flora of babies according to their way of reaching the world.
The authors point out that caesarean section should only be used for medical reasons strictly and that mothers should know that Caesarean section favors childhood obesity if your child is born by this procedure and, of course, they advise against elective caesarean sections.
