Research has shown that clumsy children are more likely to be obese in later life because they exercise less.
The study, that started 50 years ago, found that youngsters with poor hand control and co-ordination are far more prone to gaining a lot of weight during adulthood, putting them at a higher risk of heart attack, stroke and diabetes.
The findings from the British medical Journal, found that children who performed worse in tests assessing their cognitive and physical function were more likely to be obese by the age of 33.
Those who were obese were 57 percent more likely to have suffered poor hand control aged seven, more than twice as likely to have suffered poor co-ordination and are almost four times as likely to have been clumsy.
The study adds to evidence of a link between proper cognitive function in childhood and obesity and Type 2 diabetes in adulthood. Researchers said that cognitive impairment in obese adults was assumed to be a consequence of obesity.
However, the study indicates obese adults and those with Type 2 diabetes may already have had lower levels of cognitive function in childhood “consistent with a subtle developmental impairment”.
The research by the Imperial College, London and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, is based on 11,042 people taking part in the ongoing National Child Development Study in Great Britain, which started in 1958.
