"(This) suggests that it is rapid weight gain in infancy that puts children at risk" more than heavy birth weight, Elsie Taveras and fellow researchers wrote.

Obesity at age 3 does not necessarily translate into obesity later in childhood or adulthood, but it raises the risks, they said.

According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly a third of adults in the United States are obese. Obese people are 10 percent to 50 percent more likely to die of all causes.

"The key indication for this study is the importance of better education about feeding infants," said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis.

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Editor:Yang Jie