Babies who have baby fat are adored for being just too cute, being pinched and kissed all the time because they look so cuddly. But what if the infant's baby fat was a sign of him or her growing up to be obese, would that still be cute?

According to a study led by Elsie Taveras, co-director of the One Step Ahead clinic, a pediatric overweight prevention program at Children's Hospital Boston, babies' growth are a telling sign that they could grow up obese.

In the study, Taveras and colleagues observed 44,622 babies in eastern Massachusetts from 1980 through 2008.

During the course of their study, they discovered that infants who rose two or more major percentiles in weight-for-length - which show how a baby's weight compares to that of other babies of the same length - in their growth charts at any time before age 2 had double the odds of obesity at the age of 5. These odds also lead to double the likelihood of being obese by age 10.

Digging a little deeper, the study noted that babies with higher weight-for-length percentile at any time in their first 24 months of life were more likely to be obese by age 5 or 10.

With these findings, Taveras hopes that it will help babies to reduce the risk of being obese. And if all else fails, the doctor, while not advocating putting babies on a diet, have suggestions to prevent obesity:

  1. Breastfeed infants for as long as possible
  2. Pay more attention to infants' hunger and satiety cues
  3. Avoid sugar-sweetened beverages
  4. Not to introduce solid foods before 4 months
  5. Ensure that babies get 12 or more hours of sleep a day
  6. Rather than spending so much time in strollers or baby seats, encourage movement
  7. Avoid exposure to food marketing and limit screen time

Could the Parents be a Factor?

However, there are also other factors to be considered in the hopes of lowering the risk of children being obese when they grow up. The answer lies inside the womb.

Back in 2010, research found that the actions of mothers-to-be could significantly impact their baby's path to being obese, New York Times' Roni Caryn Rabin reported.

According to research, babies, whose mothers smoked during their pregnancy, are at risk of becoming obese even if they were small at birth. Overweight mothers also play a role in contributing to their child's risk of obesity and diabetes.

But having a child grow up to be an adult who is obese doesn't mean that the parents are at a fault even if they did everything in their power to help their child. The problem could be in the genes, reported TIME's Alice Park.

In a study done by the scientists at the Institute of Metabolic Science in the United Kingdom, found that people are genetically predisposed to obesity. However, this DNA's influence can easily be countered by just exercising 30 minutes a day for five times a week. This 30-minute activity could be as simple as walking the dog, riding a bike, or even tending to their gardens.

The 'fat' gene that is linked to fat mass and obesity can be found in about 74% of people from Europe, 76% of African-Americans, and 44% of Asians. With exercise, the risk of obesity can be reduced by 22%, while those with two copies of the gene can reduce it by 30%.