Nursery World - Study shows young children looked after in daycare are more likely to be obese

Young children who go to nursery on a regular basis are 65 per cent more likely to be overweight or obese compared to those cared for by their parents, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Montreal.

The increased risk of obesity in children aged 18 months to four years who are looked after by extended family was found to be 50 per cent. The risk refers to children when they are between the ages of four and ten.

The study, which was recently published in the Journal of Pediatrics, followed more than 1,600 children born between 1997 and 1998 in Quebec from the age of one-and-a half to ten years.

The children were classified according to the type of care in which they had spent the most time: at a daycare centre (30 per cent), 'family-based', that is, a childminder, (35 per cent), with a relative (11 per cent), with a nanny (5 per cent), or with their parents (19 per cent).

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