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Infant nutrition and later health: a review of current evidence

Infant nutrition and later health: a review of current evidence
Infant nutrition and later health: a review of current evidence
There is a growing recognition of the need for a lifecourse approach to understanding the aetiology of adult disease, and there is now significant evidence that links patterns of infant feeding to differences in health outcomes, both in the short and longer term. Breastfeeding is associated with lower rates of infection in infancy; in high-income populations, it is associated with reductions in blood pressure and total blood cholesterol, and lower risks of obesity and diabetes in adult life. Breastfeeding rates are suboptimal in many countries, and strategies to promote breastfeeding could therefore confer important benefits for health at a population level. However, there are particular challenges in defining nutritional exposures in infancy, including marked social gradients in initiation and duration of breastfeeding. In recent studies of low and middle-income populations of children and young adults, where the influences on infant feeding practice differ, beneficial effects of breastfeeding on blood pressure, BMI and risk of diabetes have not been confirmed, and further information is needed. Little is currently known about the long-term consequences of differences in the timing and nature of the weaning diet. Future progress will depend on new studies that provide detailed prospective data on duration and exclusivity of breastfeeding together with appropriate characterisation of the weaning diet.
infant, breastfeeding, formula feeding, weaning, programming, lifecourse
859-874
Robinson, Siân
ba591c98-4380-456a-be8a-c452f992b69b
Fall, Caroline
7171a105-34f5-4131-89d7-1aa639893b18
Robinson, Siân
ba591c98-4380-456a-be8a-c452f992b69b
Fall, Caroline
7171a105-34f5-4131-89d7-1aa639893b18

Robinson, Siân and Fall, Caroline (2012) Infant nutrition and later health: a review of current evidence. Nutrients, 4 (8), 859-874. (doi:10.3390/nu4080859). (PMID:23016121)

Record type: Article

Abstract

There is a growing recognition of the need for a lifecourse approach to understanding the aetiology of adult disease, and there is now significant evidence that links patterns of infant feeding to differences in health outcomes, both in the short and longer term. Breastfeeding is associated with lower rates of infection in infancy; in high-income populations, it is associated with reductions in blood pressure and total blood cholesterol, and lower risks of obesity and diabetes in adult life. Breastfeeding rates are suboptimal in many countries, and strategies to promote breastfeeding could therefore confer important benefits for health at a population level. However, there are particular challenges in defining nutritional exposures in infancy, including marked social gradients in initiation and duration of breastfeeding. In recent studies of low and middle-income populations of children and young adults, where the influences on infant feeding practice differ, beneficial effects of breastfeeding on blood pressure, BMI and risk of diabetes have not been confirmed, and further information is needed. Little is currently known about the long-term consequences of differences in the timing and nature of the weaning diet. Future progress will depend on new studies that provide detailed prospective data on duration and exclusivity of breastfeeding together with appropriate characterisation of the weaning diet.

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 26 July 2012
Published date: August 2012
Keywords: infant, breastfeeding, formula feeding, weaning, programming, lifecourse
Organisations: Faculty of Health Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 348471
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/348471
PURE UUID: 2e885bc0-1f70-41c0-a605-fb4387d27ea8
ORCID for Siân Robinson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1766-7269
ORCID for Caroline Fall: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4402-5552

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 13 Feb 2013 16:53
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:40

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Contributors

Author: Siân Robinson ORCID iD
Author: Caroline Fall ORCID iD

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