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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #312438
Title: Dynamics of childhood growth and obesity development and validation of a quantitative mathematical model

Author
item HALL, KEVIN - National Institutes Of Health (NIH)
item BUTTE, NANCY - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item SWINBURN, BOYD - University Of Auckland
item CHOW, CARSON - National Institutes Of Health (NIH)

Submitted to: Lancet Diabetes Endocrinology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2013
Publication Date: 10/1/2013
Citation: Hall, K.D., Butte, N.F., Swinburn, B.A., Chow, C.C. 2013. Dynamics of childhood growth and obesity development and validation of a quantitative mathematical model. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinology. 1(2):97-105.

Interpretive Summary: There is a lack of understanding of the energy balance underlying growth and the development of childhood obesity. We therefore developed a mathematical model of energy balance underlying normal childhood growth as well as the development of obesity and the effects of interventions using reference body composition and energy expenditure data in children. Application of the model corrects several misconceptions about the excesses of energy intake underlying the development of childhood obesity. The model can be used by clinicians, dietitians and policy makers to help plan diet and physical activity interventions.

Technical Abstract: Clinicians and policy makers need the ability to predict quantitatively how childhood bodyweight will respond to obesity interventions. We developed and validated a mathematical model of childhood energy balance that accounts for healthy growth and development of obesity, and that makes quantitative predictions about weight-management interventions. The model was calibrated to reference body composition data in healthy children and validated by comparing model predictions with data other than those used to build the model. The model accurately simulated the changes in body composition and energy expenditure reported in reference data during healthy growth, and predicted increases in energy intake from ages 5-18 years of roughly 1200 kcal per day in boys and 900 kcal per day in girls. Development of childhood obesity necessitated a substantially greater excess energy intake than for development of adult obesity. Furthermore, excess energy intake in overweight and obese children calculated by the model greatly exceeded the typical energy balance calculated on the basis of growth charts. At the population level, the excess weight of US children in 2003-06 was associated with a mean increase in energy intake of roughly 200 kcal per day per child compared with similar children in 1971-74. The model also suggests that therapeutic windows when children can outgrow obesity without losing weight might exist, especially during periods of high growth potential in boys who are not severely obese. This model quantifies the energy excess underlying obesity and calculates the necessary intervention magnitude to achieve bodyweight change in children. Policy makers and clinicians now have a quantitative technique for understanding the childhood obesity epidemic and planning interventions to control it.