Research Article Influence of Weight Gain Rate on Early Life Nutritional Status and Body Composition of Children Sarah Aparecida Vieira, Taís Cristina Araújo Magalhães, Andréia Queiroz Ribeiro, Silvia Eloiza Priore, Sylvia do Carmo Castro Franceschini, and Luciana Ferreira da Rocha Sant’Ana Department of Nutrition and Health, Federal University of Vic ¸osa, 36570-000 Vic ¸osa, MG, Brazil Correspondence should be addressed to Sarah Aparecida Vieira; sarahvieiraufv@gmail.com Received 27 May 2014; Accepted 6 October 2014; Published 4 November 2014 Academic Editor: Adriana Franzese Copyright © 2014 Sarah Aparecida Vieira et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objective. To evaluate the inluence of the weight gain rate at 4–6 months on nutritional status and body composition in children between 4 and 7 years of age. Methods. Retrospective cohort study, sample of 257 children. Data collection was performed in two stages, with the irst relating to retrospective data of weight gain from birth to the irst 4–6 months of life in the patient records. Measurements of weight, height, waist circumference, and body composition in children between ages 4 and 7 years were obtained. Nutritional status was assessed by the BMI/age. Control variables, such as pregnancy, breastfeeding, lifestyle, and sociodemographics, were studied. Descriptive analysis and multiple linear regression were performed. Results. In the nutritional status assessment, the prevalence of overweight observed was 24.9%. Ater adjusting for control variables, it was found that the increase of the WGR at 4–6 months of age explained the occurrence of higher BMI/age, percentage of total body fat, body fat percentage in the android region, and waist circumference in children between 4 and 7 years of age. Conclusion. he increase of the WGR in the irst months of life can lead to the occurrence of higher values of parameters of nutritional status and body composition in later life. 1. Introduction In recent decades a rapid increase in the prevalence of over- weight has been observed in both the developed and the developing countries, and it is considered a chronic and epidemic disease related to high morbidity and mortality rates [1, 2]. According to the Household Budget Survey conducted in 2008-2009, in Brazil overweight afects 33.5% of children aged ive to nine years, with 16.6% of boys being obese, and among girls, obesity has reached 11.8% [3]. Excess weight and body fat are associated with the development of various morbidities, such as cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and some cancers [4]. Moreover, obese people, particularly chil- dren and adolescents, oten have low self-esteem, afecting school performance and social interaction [5]. Risk factors for the development of obesity and excess body fat have been identiied at diferent stages of life, especially when there is a greater acceleration of growth early in life [6]. Studies show a relationship between the growth rate in the irst months of life and the risk of obesity, excess body fat, insulin resistance and lifelong cardiovascular diseases [7–9]. Others have shown that excessive weight gain in early life can negatively afect health in the future, and evidence suggests that children with low birth weight with a rapid weight recovery in the irst months of life have subsequently an increased prevalence of excess weight [9, 10]. Ater following French children from birth to adolescence, Botton et al. [11] observed a relationship between higher velocity of weight gain in the irst months of life and changes in nutritional status and body composition in adolescence. he association between higher speed of weight gain in early life and development of cardiovascular risk factors in Hindawi Publishing Corporation e Scientific World Journal Volume 2014, Article ID 616108, 11 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/616108