Abstract
Little is known about the impact of less healthy snack foods on weight trajectories during infancy. This secondary analysis of data from the Nurture cohort explored prospective associations of less healthy snack foods with infant weight trajectories. Pregnant women were recruited and, upon delivery of a single live infant, 666 mothers agreed to participate. Mothers completed sociodemographic and infant feeding questionnaires, and infant anthropometrics were collected during home visits at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Less healthy snack food consumption was assessed by asking how frequently baby snacks and sweets were consumed each day during the previous three months. Multilevel growth curve models explored associations of baby snacks and sweets with infant weight-for-length (WFL) z-scores. On average, mothers were 27 years old, 71.5% were non-Hispanic Black, and 55.4% had household incomes of ≤$20,000/year. Consumption of less healthy snack foods increased during infancy with a median intake of 3.0 baby snacks/day and 0.7 sweets/day between 10 and 12 months. Growth curve models showed that infants who consumed sweets >2 times/day had significantly higher WFL z-scores during the second half of infancy compared to infants who never consumed sweets. Less healthy snacks may contribute to the risk of obesity during infancy and promoting healthy snack food choices during this critical time is important.
Highlights
Food preferences and dietary patterns that impact weight trajectories emerge during infancy [1].Recent national data suggest that 8% of infants and toddlers are at risk for obesity (weight-for-length (WFL) ≥95th percentile) with non-Hispanic Black infants and toddlers at greater risk compared to non-Hispanic Whites [2]
To assess less healthy snacking behaviors, our study examined baby snacks and sweets; it is unknown if mothers would describe these foods as snacks or if there are other foods that mothers would describe as snacks that were not included in our analysis
Our results suggest that less healthy sweets are associated with increased weight trajectories during later infancy, making these snack foods important targets for childhood obesity prevention efforts
Summary
Food preferences and dietary patterns that impact weight trajectories emerge during infancy [1].Recent national data suggest that 8% of infants and toddlers are at risk for obesity (weight-for-length (WFL) ≥95th percentile) with non-Hispanic Black infants and toddlers at greater risk compared to non-Hispanic Whites [2]. Food preferences and dietary patterns that impact weight trajectories emerge during infancy [1]. Less healthy dietary patterns, which include foods high in added sugars, sodium, and saturated fats, are associated with an increased risk for obesity during infancy [6] and later. There is little evidence exploring the impact of the frequency and timing of less healthy snack foods on infant weight trajectories. There is, a need to examine the impact of how the frequency and timing of less healthy snack food consumption may contribute to obesogenic dietary patterns. This information will help inform national dietary recommendations for this age group [8,9]
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