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Summary: Background: Polymorphic variants within human melanocortin‐3 receptor gene (MC3R) gene have been associated with obesity. However, its influence on infancy and early childhood adiposity has not been reported before. Objectives: We assessed associations between genotype at polymorphic sites within MC3R with early childhood adiposity and interaction with early childhood appetitive traits. Methods: We studied 1090 singletons in an Asian mother–offspring cohort genotyped for MC3R and in a subgroup (n = 422) who had completed Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaires (CEBQ) at 12 months. Children were followed from birth to 48 months, and up to 10 measurements of body mass index and five measures of triceps and subscapular skin‐folds were obtained. Results: Independent of potential confounders, each additional MC3R minor allele copy was associated with greater body mass index standard deviation score [B{95% confidence interval}: 0.004 units/month {0.001,0.007}; p = 0.007], triceps [0.009 mm/month {0.001,0.02}; p = 0.021] and subscapular skin‐fold [0.008 mm/month {0.002,0.01}; p = 0.011] gain velocity in the first 48 months. Each additional MC3R minor allele copy was also associated with increased odds of overweight [odds ratio {95% confidence interval}: 1.48{1.17–1.88}] and obesity [1.58{1.10–2.28}] in the first 48 months. Every additional copy of MC3R minor allele was positively associated with ‘slowness‐in‐eating’ appetitive trait [0.24{0.06,0.39}, p = 0.006]; however, the relationship between ‘slowness‐in‐eating’ with adiposity gain was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Our findings support the role of MC3R genetic variants in adiposity gain during early childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/objectives:Prediction equations are commonly used to estimate body fat from anthropometric measurements, but are population specific. We aimed to establish and validate a body composition prediction formula for Asian newborns, and compared the performance of this formula with that of a published equation.Subjects/methods:Among 262 neonates (174 from day 0, 88 from days 1-3 post delivery) from a prospective cohort study, body composition was measured using air-displacement plethysmography (PEA POD), with standard anthropometric measurements, including triceps and subscapular skinfolds. Using fat mass measurement by PEA POD as a reference, stepwise linear regression was utilized to develop a prediction equation in a randomly selected subgroup of 62 infants measured on days 1-3, which was then validated in another subgroup of 200 infants measured on days 0-3.Results:Regression analyses revealed subscapular skinfolds, weight, gender and gestational age were significant predictors of neonatal fat mass, explaining 81.1% of the variance, but not triceps skinfold or ethnicity. By Bland-Altman analyses, our prediction equation revealed a non-significant bias with limits of agreement (LOA) similar to those of a published equation for infants measured on days 1-3 (95% LOA: (−0.25, 0.26) kg vs (−0.23, 0.21) kg) and on day 0 (95% LOA: (−0.19, 0.17) kg vs (−0.17, 0.18) kg). The published equation, however, exhibited a systematic bias in our sample.Conclusions:Our equation requires only one skinfold site measurement, which can significantly reduce time and effort. It does not require the input of ethnicity and, thus, aid its application to other Asian neonatal populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PurposeThe objective of this study was to investigate an association between spherical refractive error and breastfeeding.MethodsStrabismus, amblyopia, and refractive errors in Singaporean preschoolers (STARS) is a cross-sectional population-based study of 3009 Chinese children aged 6–72 months conducted between June 2006 and September 2008 in Singapore. Parents were asked about the history of breastfeeding in face-to-face interviews. Children without cycloplegia or without refraction assessment were excluded. The final sample analysed was 2639 children (1375 male, 1264 female).ResultsOut of those who were breastfed, 842 (41.3%) were breastfed for more than 3 months and 599 (29.4%) were breastfed longer than 6 months. The prevalence of myopia, defined as the spherical equivalent refraction of the right eye of at least −0.5 dioptres (D), was 11.3% (95% CI (10.1, 12.5)). The mean spherical equivalent refraction of breastfed children was 0.12 D higher than that of children who were not breastfed (P-value=0.03). Breastfeeding, however, was not associated with myopia (adjusted OR=0.85; 95% CI (0.62, 1.18)).ConclusionsThe results show that breastfeeding is associated with more hyperopic spherical equivalent refraction in young Chinese children in Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]