Abstract
BackgroundResearch on the association between breastfeeding duration and food neophobia is inconclusive. Breastfeeding and measures to reduce food neophobia are highly recommended to ensure a healthy diet early in life.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the association between breastfeeding duration and food neophobia in young Norwegian children.DesignParticipants (n = 246) were recruited through kindergartens in four Norwegian counties in 2017. The parents of 1-year-olds filled in questionnaires, including standardized questions on breastfeeding and food neophobia. Cross-sectional results are presented. Comparisons of child neophobia score at 16 months of age according to breastfeeding status at various timepoints during infancy were explored in linear regression models adjusted for maternal education and parental food neophobia.ResultsStill being breastfed at 12 months and being exclusively breastfed at 5 months were independently associated with slightly higher food neophobia score at the mean age of 16 months compared to shorter duration of breastfeeding. We found no other associations between breastfeeding duration and child food neophobia.DiscussionOur study adds to the somewhat scarce literature regarding associations between breastfeeding mode and duration and later food neophobia; some literature shows protective relations between breastfeeding and food fussiness, and others report opposite or null findings.ConclusionWe found that both being breastfed at 12 months and being exclusively breastfed at 5 months were independently associated with slightly higher food neophobia score at the mean age of 16 months compared to shorter duration of breastfeeding. As the data are derived from a cross-sectional study, these findings should be interpreted with caution.
Highlights
Research on the association between breastfeeding duration and food neophobia is inconclusive
Comparisons of child neophobia score at 16 months of age according to breastfeeding status at various timepoints during infancy were explored in linear regression models adjusted for maternal education and parental food neophobia
Our study adds to the somewhat scarce literature regarding associations between breastfeeding mode and duration and later food neophobia; some literature shows protective relations between breastfeeding and food fussiness, and others report opposite or null findings. We found that both being breastfed at 12 months and being exclusively breastfed at 5 months were independently associated with slightly higher food neophobia score at the mean age of 16 months compared to shorter duration of breastfeeding
Summary
Study design The presented results are from the baseline study Barns Matmot 2.0, a web-based cluster randomized controlled trial in kindergartens to reduce food neophobia and promote healthy diets. Inclusion criteria for the children were that they had to be born in the year of 2016 and that at least one of the parents could read and understand Norwegian Parents could register their child for the study from late August 2017 until the end of October, 2 weeks before the intervention started in the kindergartens in November 2017. For the present cross-sectional analyses, we included data from the 46 kindergartens (Fig. 1) since parents had already agreed to participate and filled in questionnaires before their kindergarten withdrew from the intervention. Comparisons of food neophobia scoring between children being breastfed or exclusively breastfed and not breastfed at different ages were analyzed using two sample t-tests. The study size was calculated according to the primary outcome of the original randomized control trial (see protocol paper), and for this study, the baseline data are used
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