Main image via Oprah.com
We’re always forced to share our food with our younger sibling especially when we just want to eat it all by ourselves. But having a younger sibling actually increases your chance of being overweight!
A research of 13,406 pairs of Swedish sisters raised between 1991 and 2009 found that the first-born had a higher bodily volume indicator (BMI) and are more probable to being overweight or obese.
According to the research, elder siblings were significantly heavier than their younger siblings at conception, but when they are brought up and anticipating their own kids, they had a 2.4 per cent greater BMI.
Older sisters are 29% more probable to be overweight and 40% more probable to be obese than their younger sisters.
This is actually because the blood vessels that deliver nutrients to the fetus appear to be mildly smaller in first pregnancies, said Professor Wayne Cutfield from the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland.
As a consequence, there is a feasible decrease in the production of nutrients, which causes the child to be at risk of carrying more fat and getting insulin that operates less efficiently subsequently in their lives.
Dr. Maria Peña, Director of the Center for Weight Management at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City also said that it might be because mothers overfeed their first babies to ensure a “healthy weight”, causing the eating habit to potentially stick throughout their lives.
Gary Sacks of Deakin University also theorises that “maybe the first-born competes with the second-born for food in the household. Maybe more money gets spent on the firstborn.”
Do you think that the birth order contributes to chances of being overweight? Let us know!
Info via Oxford Academic , New Scientist , CBS News , BMJ Journals
Filled Under :
*We reserve the right to delete comments that contain inappropriate content.