Exclusive breast-feeding and sociodemographic characteristics are associated with dietary patterns in children aged 4–7 years

The influence of early and current feeding practices, eating behaviors, and screen time on dietary patterns in Polish toddlers - A cross-sectional study

Early nutrition has an important influence on a child's proper health and development, and understanding factors that may be related to desirable dietary patterns is key to improving the diet of future generations. The aim of this study was to assess whether early and current feeding practices, eating behaviors, and screen time viewing are associated with toddlers' dietary patterns. A cross-sectional sample of 467 mothers of toddlers (aged 1 year to 3) was surveyed between 2020 and 2022. Food consumption was evaluated by the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). The k-means algorithm was used to define dietary patterns on the basis of data collected from the FFQ and mealtime environment patterns, based on the data about practices during meals consumption. The odds of following a prohealth dietary pattern among early feeding factors were lower when infants ate commercial complementary foods more often. Distracted mealtime environment pattern increased the odds of following a non-eaters pattern, and commercial complementary foods pattern increased the odds of following a processed pattern. Currently, the odds of following a processed dietary pattern were higher when children were not breastfed and had higher screen time. Toddlers who ate during distraction and were more fussy had lower odds of following a prohealth dietary pattern, whereas higher enjoyment of food and satiety responsiveness increased the odds. The results indicate the need to increase parents' awareness about the importance of early factors in establishing dietary patterns.

Factors Associated with Dietary Patterns of Schoolchildren: A Systematic Review

The evaluation of food consumption in childhood is essential to help understand the effect of food choices on health. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of studies that identified the dietary patterns in schoolchildren (7-10 years old) and their associated factors. Observational studies published in the last ten years were searched in the databases BVS (Virtual Health Library), Embase, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The Newcastle Ottawa Scale was adopted to evaluate the articles' quality. The studies covered schoolchildren, children, and adolescents as part of the sample. We selected 16 studies, 75% of which were considered good/very good and seven mentioned three food patterns. A dietary pattern considered unhealthy was identified in 93.75% of the studies, having as associated factors to its consumption: higher screen time, low bone mass, gain of weight and fat in children, and meal skipping. The children who usually had breakfast showed greater adherence to the dietary pattern consisting of healthier foods. The children's dietary patterns were related to their behavior, nutritional status, and family environment habits. Food and nutrition education's effective actions, as well as the regularization of the marketing of ultra-processed foods, must be stimulated and inserted in public policies as a way to promote and protect children's health.

Association between breast-feeding exposure and duration with offspring's dietary patterns over 1 year of age: a systematic review of observational studies

Some evidence suggests that breast-feeding may modify food preferences in the later years of life. The present study aimed to provide a systematic review of observational studies investigating the association between exposure to breast milk and its duration with data-driven or hypothesis-driven (or diet quality scores) dietary patterns over 1 year of age. The databases of PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science were searched for observational studies published from January 2010 until July 2021, which led to the identification of twenty-two eligible articles. There was considerable heterogeneity between studies in terms of assessment of exposure and outcome. Of the eleven studies that assessed data-driven dietary patterns, ten reported a significant association for at least one identified dietary pattern. Overall, being breast-fed and a longer duration of any/exclusive breast-feeding were associated with higher scores on healthy dietary patterns characterised mainly by high loadings of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. In comparison, a negative association was found for unhealthy dietary patterns rich in foods with high content of added sugar, salt and saturated fats. In terms of diet quality scores, nine out of eleven studies reported a significant positive association between the duration of any breast-feeding and adherence to recommended healthy diets or dietary guidelines. In conclusion, the evidence from this review was generally in support of the hypothesis indicating breast-feeding is associated with healthy dietary patterns at later ages. However, due to the methodological limitations in the available studies, further research is warranted to elucidate solid evidence on this topic.

Maternal Diet During Pregnancy and Lactation and Child Food Preferences, Dietary Patterns, and Weight Outcomes: a Review of Recent Research

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Efforts to promote children's preferences for healthy foods hold much potential for improving diet quality and preventing obesity. The purpose of this review was to summarize recent evidence for associations between maternal diet during pregnancy and lactation and child food preferences, dietary patterns, and weight outcomes.

RECENT FINDINGS

Recent research illustrates greater maternal vegetable intakes during pregnancy and lactation predict greater child preferences for and intakes of vegetables. Recent randomized clinical trials to improve maternal weight outcomes during the perinatal period via behavioral lifestyle interventions that included dietary components have yielded mixed findings for effects on child weight outcomes. There is strong evidence that maternal diet during pregnancy and lactation shapes flavor preferences during infancy; more research is needed to understand factors that facilitate versus hinder the translation of these preferences to later dietary patterns and weight outcomes.