C-Sections May Lead to Childhood Obesity

The Takeaway

When it comes to childhood obesity, there are a lot of factors that have been blamed: processed food, portion sizes, and poverty, to name just a few.  But what if childhood obesity isn’t simply about how kids live, but the manner in which they are born? A new study suggests that children delivered via C-section are twice as likely to be obese by their third birthdays than those delivered vaginally.
Dr. Matthew Gillman  is the senior author if the new study and director of the Obesity Prevention Program at Harvard Medical School.  Rachael Larimore believes that studies like Dr. Gillman’s should be taken with a grain of salt. Rachael is managing editor at Slate.com and she’s had three Cesarean sections.  

Are you with The World?

The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.

When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.