Researchers from the Centre for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University in Philadelphia and the Ohio State University of Public Health found that children who were using a bottle at 24 months were around 30 per cent more likely to be obese at five-and-a-half years, after taking into account other factors such as the mother's weight, the child's birth weight, and feeding practices during infancy.
The study used data collected on 6,750 US children born in 2001 as part of a birth cohort study. Of the children studied, 22 per cent were prolonged bottle users, defined as using a bottle as their primary drink container at the age of two, and/or being put to bed with a bottle. Nearly a quarter of prolonged bottle users were obese by the time they were five-and-a-half.
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