A longitudinal study of serum insulin and insulin resistance as predictors of weight and body fat gain in African American and Caucasian children.

Background: The influence of insulin and insulin resistance (IR) on children's weight and fat gain is unclear.

Objective: To evaluate insulin and IR as predictors of weight and body fat gain in children at high risk for adult obesity. We hypothesized that baseline IR would be positively associated with follow-up body mass index (BMI) and fat mass.