title: Association between infant nutrition and anthropometry, and pre-pubertal body composition in urban South African children.
abstract: Early life nutrition and growth are related to subsequent obesity risk in high-income countries. We investigated the association between nutrition and growth during infancy, and body composition at 10 years of age in 140 children selected from the Bone Health sub-study of the Birth-to-Twenty cohort from Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa. Infant feeding and dietary data were collected during the first 12 months, and weight and height were measured at 1 and 2 years of age. At 10 years, anthropometry and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)-derived body composition were measured. Regression models were used to determine associations between independent and dependent variables at the 1% level of significance. A one z-score increase in birth weight was associated with a 1051 g increase in lean mass and a 0.22 increase in body mass index (BMI) z-score at the age of 10 years. After adjusting for confounders, stunting at age 1 year was associated with lower fat mass only at 10 years of age while at age 2 years, it was associated with lower lean mass only. Being underweight at one year of age was significantly associated with lower lean mass only. Weight-for-age (WAZ) change in the second year of infancy was a predictor of fat mass and BMI only. Body fatness at 10 years of age was positively associated with infant WAZ change rather than height-for-age change. There were no significant associations between infant dietary patterns, wasting and being underweight at age 2 years and pre-pubertal body composition. Further studies are needed to assess whether these associations continue during adolescence as pubertal development may be an important modifier of these associations.
authors.affiliation: 1 MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways of Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kagura
authors.affiliation: 1 MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways of Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: A B B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Feeley
authors.affiliation: 2 MRC/Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, University of Cape Town, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Micklesfield
authors.affiliation: 1 MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways of Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pettifor
authors.affiliation: 1 MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways of Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Norris
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D001823:Body Composition; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D008297:Male; D013019:South Africa