Nutrition in the early years – laying the foundations for healthy eating

Associations between feeding practices in infancy and fruit and vegetable consumption in childhood

“…In our study, first complementary food was a more consistent predictor than breast-feeding of future fruit and vegetable frequency and vegetable variety. This is consistent with the view that complementary feeding, but not breast-feeding, is essential to acceptance of a wider range of food (17) , although to maintain the effects vegetables need to be part of the ongoing family diet (12,15) . Exposure to vegetables was generally more strongly associated with vegetable-related outcomes, and vice versa for fruit.…”

“…As it seems more difficult to encourage children to eat more vegetables than to eat more fruits, these findings support policy initiatives encouraging a vegetables-first approach to weaning (27,28) . This may require updating infant feeding guidelines and targeted public health messages, as the most common first food given to infants in many countries is cereal (12,27,28,46) .…”

“…This suggests that new approaches to dietary intervention are necessary. Early childhood, particularly the first 1000 d, is a window of opportunity to establish healthy dietary preferences (9)(10)(11)(12) , as food preferences are formed in infancy and track into adulthood (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15) . In particular, breast-feeding and the introduction of complementary foods can set taste preferences and shape attitudes towards food (11) .…”

“…The introduction of complementary foods is another opportunity to lay the foundation for healthy eating, as infants begin to learn tastes and textures (11)(12)(13) . In the UK, there is a move towards a vegetables-first approach to weaning (27,28) , recognising that infants are born with a preference for sweet and salty flavours but must learn to accept the bitter flavours present in many vegetables (10,13) .…”

Childhood obesity still rising

“…Overall, this indicates that children's diets remain unbalanced from an energy perspective, and tackling this is currently a major policy area in the UK. In summer 2016 the government published its Childhood Obesity Plan (Department of Health ), as discussed in an editorial in the December 2016 issue of Nutrition Bulletin (Hetherington ), which has a particular focus on reducing sugar intakes of children. But of course there is more to good nutrition than energy intake and the sources of that energy.…”