The associations between adult body composition and abdominal adiposity outcomes, and relative weight gain and linear growth from birth to age 22 in the Birth to Twenty Plus cohort, South Africa.

The importance of optimal birth weight and growth tempos during early life for later life body composition, and the detrimental effects of pre- and postnatal growth restriction are clear; yet contemporary weight-gain most strongly predicted adult body composition. Thus interventions should target body composition trajectories during childhood and prevent excessive weight gain in early adulthood.