Diet diversity, growth and adiposity in healthy breastfed infants fed homemade complementary foods

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity 2017-05, Vol.41 (5), p.776-782
• Main Authors: Mok, E, Vanstone, C A, Gallo, S, Li, P, Constantin, E, Weiler, H A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 692/499; 692/699; Adipose tissue; Adiposity - physiology; Age; Babies; Baby foods; Body composition; Body fat; Body mass index; Body size; Body Weight; Breast Feeding; Breastfeeding & lactation; Canada; Confidence intervals; Development and progression; Diet; Diet - statistics & numerical data; Dietary intake; Dietary Proteins; Dietary supplements; Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry; Energy Intake - physiology; Epidemiology; Families & family life; Family income; Feeding; Feeding Behavior; Female; Food; Food and nutrition; Food groups; Food intake; Food preferences; Fruit; Growth; Health aspects; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humans; Infant; Infant Food; Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Internal Medicine; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Meat; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Multivariable control; Nutrients; Nutrition research; original-article; Parent educational background; Parents & parenting; Pediatric research; Personal health; Physiological aspects; Public Health; Secondary analysis; Statistical analysis; Vegetables; Vitamin D; Weight Gain - physiology
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2017.37

Background/Objectives: Infant complementary feeding is important for establishing food preferences. Few studies exist on the effects of infant complementary feeding choices (food preparation methods) on dietary intake, growth or adiposity. We examined whether provision of homemade complementary food is associated with the development of dietary diversity, nutrient intakes and quality of infant growth. Subjects/Methods: Secondary analysis of feeding practices from a randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation in 132 healthy breastfed 1-month-old infants from Montréal, Canada. This longitudinal study used diet records, anthropometric and body composition data (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) from assessments that occurred when infants were 6, 9, 12 and 36 months of age. Infants were grouped into three categories of food preparation method on the basis of whether or not they had consumed homemade or commercial meat or fruit and vegetable by 9 months (homemade, commercial and both). Multivariable regression controlled for family income, maternal education and infant sex. Results: Dietary data were available for 65 infants. By 9 months, 22% of infants had exclusively received homemade ( n =14), 14 infants had exclusively received commercial and 37 infants had received both. The development of dietary diversity (number of World Health Organization-recommended food groups) was higher (0.76 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.14, 1.38); P