PhD defence: Body composition at 3-years of age
The influence of early growth, infant feeding and IGF-I
Katrine Tschentscher Ejlerskov
PhD thesis
There is a tendency that body composition build up in childhood to a certain degree will be retained later in life. Birth weight and high weight gain the first years of life is associated with later body composition and increased risk of obesity.
The PhD thesis gives a detailed description of body composition at 3 years of age and describes how early growth patterns, diet in infancy and the growth factor insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) relate to the distribution of fat and fat-free mass at 3 years of age.
At the same time, research have shown that increased tempo of growth including length gain is related to an early nadir in the BMI-curve with a subsequent increase in BMI (adiposity rebound) which is also associated with later increased adiposity risk. Growth in early childhood including weight and length gain is highly related to the levels of IGF-I during the same period and relations between IGF-I levels at 9 and 36 months of age, dietary intake and body composition at 3 years are examined.
These aspects of the research are relevant in the search for modifiable factors during early childhood that can promote the development of a more optimal body composition and reduce the risk for later development of obesity.
2014, 155 pages,
ISBN 978 87 7611 667 5
Time
10 January 2013 at 13:00
Venue
Festauditoriet, 1-01, Bülowsvej 17, 1870 Frederiksberg C.
Opponents
Professor Henrik Friis (chair), Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Associate Professor Magnus Domellöf, Department of Pediatrics, University of Umeå, Sweden.
Professor Mary Fewtrell, Institute of Child Health, London, England.
Supervisors
Professor Kim Fleischer Michaelsen, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Associate Professor Christian Mølgaard, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.