Babies born by caesarean more likely to be obese

London, May 24 (IANS) Babies born by caesarean section are more likely to become obese children than those delivered naturally, according to a media report Thursday.

Researchers said the obesity epidemic could be driven in part by rising rates of surgical deliveries. The rate of caesareans in England is almost 25 percent, which totals around 155,000 a year, Daily Mail reported.

The operation can be life-saving for mother and baby but about seven percent of National Health Service (NHS) surgical births occur for no medical reason.

Researchers from Boston Children's Hospital, US, examined 1,225 mother-and-child pairs over three years, weighing them and measuring the babies' body fat. One in four of the deliveries was by caesarean.

After taking into account obesity in the mother and other factors, they found almost 16 percent of children delivered by caesarean were obese by the age of three compared with 7.5 percent born naturally.