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  • Original Article
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Lipids and cardiovascular/metabolic health

Infant diet and metabolic outcomes in school-age children. The Generation R Study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 68, pages 1008–1015 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background:

Breastfeeding duration is associated with the risks of cardio-metabolic diseases in adulthood. We examined the associations of infant feeding patterns with metabolic outcomes in children and whether any association was explained by family-based socio-demographic, maternal lifestyle-related or childhood factors.

Subjects/methods:

We performed a population-based prospective cohort study in 3417 children to examine the associations of breastfeeding duration and exclusivity and age at introduction of solid foods with blood levels of lipids, insulin and C-peptide and risk of clustering of cardio-metabolic risk factors at the median age of 6.0 years (90% range 5.7–6.8).

Results:

We observed that, in the models only adjusted for child’s age and sex, ever breastfeeding was not associated with childhood blood levels of lipids but was associated with higher insulin and C-peptide concentrations (P-value<0.05). Breastfeeding duration and exclusivity were not consistently associated with metabolic outcomes. Early introduction of solid foods was associated with higher levels of total cholesterol (P-value<0.05) but not with high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides and insulin levels. Shorter breastfeeding duration and exclusive breastfeeding were associated with increased risks of clustering of cardio-metabolic risk factors. After additional adjustment for family, maternal and childhood factors, none of these associations remained significant.

Conclusions:

In conclusion, we found no consistent associations of infant feeding patterns with metabolic outcomes at school age, after taking into account family-based socio-demographic, maternal lifestyle-related or childhood factors. Whether infant diet composition influences metabolic outcomes in later life should be further studied.

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Acknowledgements

The Generation R Study is conducted by the Erasmus Medical Center in close collaboration with the School of Law and Faculty of Social Sciences of the Erasmus University Rotterdam; the Municipal Health Service Rotterdam area, Rotterdam; the Rotterdam Homecare Foundation, Rotterdam; and the Stichting Trombosedienst and Artsenlaboratorium Rijnmond (STAR), Rotterdam. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of participating mothers, general practitioners, hospitals, midwives and pharmacies in Rotterdam. We received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013), project EarlyNutrition under grant agreement no. 289346. VWVJ received an additional grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO-VIDI 016.136.361). OHF works in ErasmusAGE, a center for aging research across the life course funded by Nestlé Nutrition (Nestec Ltd.), Metagenics Inc. and AXA. These sponsors had no role in design and conduct of the study, analysis and interpretation of the data, and preparation, review or approval of the manuscript.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

OG, RG and VWVJ designed and conducted the research and wrote the paper. OG analyzed the data. BD, OHF, AH and LD provided comments and consultation regarding the analyses and manuscript. OG, RG and VWVJ had primary responsibility for final content. All authors gave final approval of the version to be published.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Generation R Study Group, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    O Gishti, R Gaillard, B Durmuş & V W V Jaddoe

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    O Gishti, R Gaillard, L Duijts & V W V Jaddoe

  3. Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    O Gishti, R Gaillard, A Hofman, L Duijts, O H Franco & V W V Jaddoe

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  1. O Gishti
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Correspondence to V W V Jaddoe.

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Gishti, O., Gaillard, R., Durmuş, B. et al. Infant diet and metabolic outcomes in school-age children. The Generation R Study. Eur J Clin Nutr 68, 1008–1015 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.81

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