Abuse in childhood produces obesity

• April 26, 2024

Children who are victims of child abuse are more prone to obesity later in life, suggests a recent review.

British researchers found that children who suffer some type of abuse are 36% more likely to be obsessed in adulthood. They concluded that child abuse could be seen as a modifiable risk factor for obesity.

"We found that being a victim of abuse in childhood significantly increases the risk of obesity in adulthood," said the study's author, Dr. Andrea Danese, psychiatrist specializing in children and adolescents at the Institute of Psychiatry of the King's College in London , in a school press release.

"The prevention of child maltreatment remains paramount, and our findings emphasize the seriousness of the long-term health effects of these experiences."

To conduct the study, the researchers examined data from more than 190,000 people who participated in 41 studies throughout the world. They found that the link between childhood abuse and adult obesity could not be explained by socioeconomic status in childhood or adulthood, smoking, alcohol intake or physical activity level.

Child abuse was also not associated with obesity in children or adolescents, the researchers added, suggesting that children were not victims of abuse due to being overweight or obese.

However, the researchers found that depression could explain why some children who are victims of abuse are obese as adults. They indicated that more research is needed to determine the effects of depression in the body, especially in the brain, the hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism.

The study authors added that more research is needed to determine which treatment strategies would prevent children suffering from abuse from being obese years later.

"If the association is causal, as animal studies suggest, child maltreatment could be seen as a potentially modifiable risk factor for obesity, a health problem that affects a third of the population and often resists treatment" , raised Danese.

Although the study found an association between childhood abuse and obesity later in life, it did not prove a causal relationship.

The study appears in the May 21 issue of the journal Molecular Psychiatry.