A fat lot of good

IF the size of one’s brain is linked to obesity, one can only wonder why and how the brain’s pleasure centre actually becomes larger in adolescents who have 3 per cent more body fat. (“Brain, obesity link”, HS Feb 28) Is it that they have already been over-fed in childhood? Maybe as adolescents the pleasure centre in their brains was negatively impacted by the overconsumption of unhealthy and fattening foods during childhood?

Given that one in four children aged 2-17 was considered overweight or obese in 2014-15, it seems controlling what young children eat is vital before reaching adolescence.

We need to know whether very young children have larger pleasure centres too. Then studies can be more instructive to parents about what to feed babies and children before they’ve accumulated excess body fat.