title: Dietary patterns and breast-feeding in Australian children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the dietary patterns of a national sample of 2-8-year-old Australian children and to establish whether breast-feeding is associated with dietary patterns in this age group.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study using 24 h recall data from the 2007 Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 2287 children aged 2-8 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Principal component factor analysis identified three distinct patterns. The 'Non-core food groups' pattern included food groups such as whole-fat dairy products, cheese, medium-high sugar-sweetened breakfast cereals and sweet biscuits, no fruit, reduced/low-fat dairy products and wholegrain bread/rolls. The 'Healthy, meat and vegetable' pattern included vegetables, red meat, fruit and wholegrain bread/rolls and was inversely associated with take-away foods and carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages. The 'Combination' pattern contained many food groups including candy (not chocolate based), pasta/rice products, nuts/seeds, cakes and chocolate, but no fruit or vegetables. Of the 2287 children, 2064 (89·3 %) had been breast-fed. A positive association was found between breast-feeding and the healthy, meat and vegetable pattern (r = 0·267) but not with the other two patterns. Higher scores on this pattern were also associated with younger age, lower BMI, higher birth weight, high likelihood of being in the less-disadvantaged Socio-economic Indexes for Areas category and less likelihood of the child's parents having a lower educational level.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results provide suggestive evidence that breast-feeding during infancy is associated with a healthy dietary pattern in childhood and offers a likely pathway to explain the previously reported association between breast-feeding and chronic disease.
authors: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Flinders Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Level 7E, Flinders Medical Centre, Flinders Drive, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia. jessica.grieger@flinders.edu.au
authors: Jessica A
authors: JA
authors: Grieger
authors: Jane
authors: J
authors: Scott
authors: Lynne
authors: L
authors: Cobiac
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002182:Candy; D002648:Child; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003611:Dairy Products; D004032:Diet; D004034:Diet Surveys; D002523:Edible Grain; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014675:Vegetables