Association of early feeding practices with dietary patterns of 7-year-olds from the birth cohort Generation XXI

Catarina Barbosa; Alexandra Costa; Marion M Hetherington; Andreia Oliveira

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2021.105909

Association of early feeding practices with dietary patterns of 7-year-olds from the birth cohort Generation XXI

Appetite. 2022 Apr 1:171:105909. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105909. Epub 2022 Jan 2.

Authors

Catarina Barbosa¹, Alexandra Costa², Marion M Hetherington³, Andreia Oliveira⁴

Affiliations

¹ EPIUnit - Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto [Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto], Rua das Taipas nº135, 4050-600, Porto, Portugal.
² EPIUnit - Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto [Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto], Rua das Taipas nº135, 4050-600, Porto, Portugal; Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health (ITR), Rua das Taipas nº135, 4050-600, Porto, Portugal.
³ School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.
⁴ EPIUnit - Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto [Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto], Rua das Taipas nº135, 4050-600, Porto, Portugal; Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health (ITR), Rua das Taipas nº135, 4050-600, Porto, Portugal; Departamento de Ciências da Saúde Pública e Forenses e Educação Médica da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto [Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto], Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319, Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: acmatos@ispup.up.pt.

PMID: 34986399
DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105909

Abstract

Early feeding practices have been related to child's body mass index (BMI), however, their role in establishing dietary patterns is less well understood. The aim of this study was to examine the association of parent-reported early feeding practices (breastfeeding duration, type of foods and timing of complementary feeding) and dietary patterns identified at age 7 to explain BMI z-scores at 10 years of age. Participants were children from the Generation XXI cohort, evaluated at 4, 7 and 10 years of age (n = 3673). At 7 years-old, dietary intake was assessed with a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Two dietary patterns were previously derived: "Energy-dense foods" (higher in energy-dense foods, and lower in vegetable soup, significantly associated with BMI z-score at 10 years-old, and the "Fish-based" dietary pattern (higher in fish consumption and low in energy-dense foods). Adjusted sex-stratified associations were estimated by generalized linear models. Boys and girls who were never breastfed or were breastfed for a very short duration had lower scores in the "Fish-based" dietary pattern, compared to those with longer breastfeeding durations (Boys: β = -0.219; 95%CI: 0.361; -0.077; Girls: β = -0.223; 95%CI: 0.358; -0.088). No significant associations between breastfeeding and the "Energy-dense foods" dietary pattern were found. Boys and girls who were offered cereals as a first food during complementary feeding, in comparison with soup, presented lower scores in the "Energy-dense foods" dietary pattern (Boys: β = -0.183; 95%CI: 0.292; -0.074; Girls: β = -0.155; 95%CI: 0.259; -0.050), but only girls presented higher scores in the 'Fish-based' dietary pattern (β = 0.137; 95%CI: 0.006; 0.267). The age of introduction of complementary feeding was not significantly associated with the dietary patterns. Parents should be supported in their infant feeding decisions, given the potential effects of breastfeeding duration and first foods at complementary feeding on shaping longer term dietary patterns of young children.

Keywords: Breastfeeding; Children; Cohort studies; Complementary feeding; Diet; Feeding behaviour.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Birth Cohort*
Body Mass Index
Breast Feeding
Child, Preschool
Diet
Feeding Behavior*
Female
Humans
Infant
Vegetables