Breastfeeding, weight gain in infancy, and overweight at seven years of age: the prevention and incidence of asthma and mite allergy birth cohort study.
Compared with nonbreastfed children, breastfed children tend to have a lower body mass index (BMI) at about 1 year of age. How the BMI of breastfed children develops after the first year when this difference in BMI at 1 year of age is considered is not clear. The authors studied the association between breastfeeding and BMI development from 1 to 7 years of age independently of BMI at 1 year of age. Longitudinal BMI data reported by parents of 2,347 Dutch children born in 1996-1997 who participated in the Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy birth cohort study were collected. Linear regression and mixed-effects models were used for data analyses. Mean BMI at 1 year of age was 17.2 kg/m(2) (standard deviation, 1.4). Compared with nonbreastfed children, children breastfed for >16 weeks had a lower BMI at 1 year of age, after adjustment for confounders (beta = -0.22, 95% confidence interval: -0.39, -0.06). The association between breastfeeding and BMI between 1 and 7 years of age was negligible, while a high BMI at 1 year of age was strongly associated with a high BMI between 1 and 7 years of age in the same model. These findings suggest that the lower BMI and lower risk of overweight among breastfed children later in life are already achieved at 1 year of age.
Scholtens
Salome
S
Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. salome.scholtens@rivm.nl
Gehring
Ulrike
U
Brunekreef
Bert
B
Smit
Henriette A
HA
de Jongste
Johan C
JC
Kerkhof
Marjan
M
Gerritsen
Jorrit
J
Wijga
Alet H
AH
D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000502:physiology*