Results. Thirty-five percent of the sample is overweight or obese (>85th percentile), but Hispanic children are twice as likely as either black or white children to be overweight or obese. Despite controlling for a wide variety of characteristics, we are unable to explain either the white-Hispanic or the black-Hispanic difference in overweight and obesity. However, birth weight, taking a bottle to bed, the mother’s access to a grocery store, and the mother’s own weight status are important predictors of children’s overweight or
obesity at age three.
Conclusions. Children’s problems with overweight and obesity begin as young as age three, and Hispanic children and those with obese mothers are especially at risk.