Beyond birthweight: longitudinal insights into twin growth and obesity risk

<p dir="ltr">Twins tend to be born smaller than singletons because the shared uterine environment limits space and nutrients, leading to slower fetal growth and often earlier birth.1 There is, however, conflicting evidence on whether twins demonstrate catch-up growth to reach the same average height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) as singletons by adulthood. In the current issue, Gleason et al pooled data from two national cohorts and compared the growth of twins (N=756) to singletons (N=30,264) between birth and 18 years of age.2 Their key finding was that twins remained shorter and lighter than singletons throughout childhood and adolescence, but their BMI approached that of singletons by age 18 years. Consequently, risks for overweight and obesity were not significantly different in twins compared to singletons in late/post puberty (13-18 years for girls and 15-18 years for boys)...(cont.)</p>