Anthropometric indicators of body composition in young adults: relation to size at birth and serial measurements of body mass index in childhood in the New Delhi birth cohort.

Background: South Asians have a muscle-thin but adipose body phenotype and high rates of obesity-related disease. Adult body composition may be predictable in early life.

Objective: Anthropometric indexes of adult body composition were examined in relation to birth size and body mass index (BMI) during childhood.

Relation of serial changes in childhood body-mass index to impaired glucose tolerance in young adulthood.

Background: The risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus is increased in people who have low birth weights and who subsequently become obese as adults. Whether their obesity originates in childhood and, if so, at what age are unknown. Understanding the origin of obesity may be especially important in developing countries, where type 2 diabetes is rapidly increasing yet public health messages still focus on reducing childhood "undernutrition.