Children who suffer ear infections are at increased risk of becoming overweight later in life according to a new study.

Researchers from the University of Florida, noted that chronic, repeated ear infections can damage a nerve in the middle ear that controls taste sensations.

Damage to the chorda tympani nerve appears to intensify the desire for fatty or high-energy foods, which could result in obesity, they say.

The study suggests that prompt diagnosis and treatment of middle ear infections — one of the most common childhood conditions requiring medical attention — may help to prevent obesity in some people.

In research presented today at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Philadelphia, Linda Bartoshuk, who led the study, said that middle-ear infections, also known as otitis media, are becoming more common in children.

Childhood obesity is likewise on the rise, with nearly a quarter of children in the UK aged 4 to 5 (22.9 per cent) and almost a third of 10 to 11-year-olds (31.6 per cent) either obese or overweight as measured by body mass index (BMI) scores.

If current trends are not reversed, 60 per cent of men, half of women and one in four children will be obese by 2050, experts predict.

In the study, scientists reviewed data collected from 245 adults aged 30 and older, with a history of middle ear-infections and 1,055 patients with no such history.

The study included questions about the patients’ dietary preferences among a set of 26 common foods and beverages ranging from low-fat to fatty foods. The researchers found that those with a history of ear infections were more likely to report a higher, more intense preference for fatty foods than others and were twice as likely to be obese.

“The more energy dense a food is, the more a person with ear infections likes it. You can see what that would do to weight gain,” Professor Bartoshuk said. “This finding gives a new environmental component to the obesity problem that allows a possibility of intervention.”

More research was needed to identify the percentage of children with ear infections who might be vulnerable to obesity, how much nerve damage must occur before obesity begins, and how frequently the damage must occur, she added.

“We need to study larger numbers of people and do taste-testing on them to find out more about this possible connection,” she said.

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