Temple-led study: prolonged bottle use could mean childhood obesity

Parents who still comfort their children with a bottle of milk when they're toddlers may be setting them up for obesity by the time they're in kindergarten, suggests a new study led by Robert Whitaker and Rachel Gooze of Temple's Center for Obesity Research and Education. After analyzing data from 6,750 children, they found that by age two, 22 percent still used a bottle, and 33 percent of those children were more likely to be obese at age 5 1/2. "Prolonged bottle use might lead toddlers to consume more calories than they need, because at these older ages the bottle is probably used for comfort or convenience rather than nourishment," said Gooze.
May 5, 2011 | USA Today, ABC News, BBC News, CBS News, Canada Press, KYW News Radio, HealthDay, many others