Background: Low birth weight is associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes in adult. The fetal programming hypothesis has taught that insulin resistance and its associated metabolic disturbances result from poor gestational environment, for which low birth weight is a surrogate. We have investigated the relevance of birth weight, current weight and weight change to insulin resistance in 165 contemporary Korean adolescence.
Methods: A cohort of 165 boys and girls were measured birth weight and current anthropometric data (weight, height, body mass index, body fat component, waist circumference), blood pressure, lipid profile and insulin resistance at age 12-15 who have lived at Seoul in South Korea. We also investigated the effects of birth weight, current weight and weight change on insulin resistance.
Results: This study makes some important observations. Insulin resistance wasn’t related to birth weight although the factors of metabolic syndrome, such as blood pressure, lipid profile, fasting glucose, tended to decreased with birth weight. But insulin resistance is high in current over-weighted or catch-up growth groups.
Conclusion: Low birth weight may predict the risk of the insulin resistance syndrome and its progression over age, and this effect may be more pronounced in those who exhibited excess current weight or so-called catch-up growth. So, adequate gestational nutrition is necessary to prevent low birth weight and also childhood overnutrition should be avoided especially in those who had a low birth weight.

Keywords: Insulin resistance, Birth weight, Current weight, Weight change