Childhood Obesity Linked to Multiple Sclerosis, Kaiser Permanente Study

Being obese may increase the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) in children and teenage girls, according to new research published in the January 30, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. "Over the last 30 years, childhood obesity has tripled," said study author Annette Langer-Gould, MD, PhD, with the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation in Pasadena and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. "In our study, the risk of pediatric MS was highest among moderately and extremely obese teenage girls, suggesting that the rate of pediatric MS cases is likely to increase as the childhood obesity epidemic continues."