Exploring the risk factors for early-life sugar consumption: A birth cohort study

Abstract

Background: Sugar consumption in early childhood is the primary cause of negative health outcomes, including early childhood caries.

Aim: To investigate risk factors associated with early-life sugar consumption.

Design: Explanatory variables were collected at baseline of a birth cohort in Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil. At six months of age, data were collected on child feeding practices, including the number of foods and beverages containing sugar. Multivariate Poisson regression analysis with robust variance was performed.

Results: Virtually all children (98.3%) had consumed sugar by the age of 6 months. Multivariable analysis showed that the number of sweet items was significantly larger in children whose mothers were less than 20 years of age (MR = 1.19; 95% CI: 1.05-1.36), those from non-nuclear families (MR = 1.12; 95% CI: 1.04-1.20), those whose mothers had less than eight years of schooling (MR = 1.34; 95% CI: 1.20-1.50) and those whose mothers smoked (MR = 1.23; 95% CI: 1.13-1.35). Moreover, the number of sweet items was significantly lower among children who breastfed in the first hour of life (MR = 0.85; 95% CI: 0.76-0.95).

Conclusion: Sugar consumption begins very early, especially in children with no access to breastfeeding in the first hours of life and those from younger, less educated, and smoking mothers.

Keywords: breastfeeding; childhood; dental caries; risk factors; sugar.