Martin-Kerry Jacqueline, Gussy Mark, Gold Lisa, Calache Hanny, Boak Rachel, Smith Michael, de Silva Andrea
Research Fellow, Department of Health Sciences, Seebohm Rowntree Building, University of York, Heslington, UK.
Global Professor of Rural Health and Care, College of Social Science, University of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK.
Child Care Health Dev. 2020 Jul;46(4):495-505. doi: 10.1111/cch.12768. Epub 2020 Apr 14.
Early childhood is an important time to establish eating behaviours and taste preferences, and there is strong evidence of the association between the early introduction of sugar-sweetened beverages and obesity and dental caries (tooth decay). Dental caries early in life predicts lifetime caries experience, and worldwide expenditure for dental caries is high.
Questionnaire data from the Splash! longitudinal birth cohort study of young children in Victoria, Australia was used to examine beverage consumption and parental feeding behaviours of young children, aiming to provide contemporary dietary data and assess consistency with the Australian dietary guidelines.
From 12 months of age, the proportion of children drinking sugar-sweetened beverages consistently increased with age (e.g. fruit juice consumed by 21.8% at 12 months and 76.7% at 4 years of age). However, the most common beverages for young children are milk and water, consistent with Australian dietary guidelines. In relation to other risk factors for dental caries, at 6 months of age children were sharing utensils, and at 12 months three quarters of carers tasted the child's food before feeding.
The increasing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and prevalence of other risk factors for dental caries and obesity through early childhood continues to be a problem despite efforts to raise awareness of these issues with parents.
幼儿期是确立饮食行为和口味偏好的重要时期，有充分证据表明过早引入含糖饮料与肥胖及龋齿（蛀牙）之间存在关联。生命早期的龋齿可预测一生的龋齿经历，且全球用于龋齿治疗的费用高昂。
来自澳大利亚维多利亚州针对幼儿的Splash!纵向出生队列研究的问卷数据，被用于调查幼儿的饮料消费情况及父母的喂养行为，旨在提供当代饮食数据并评估与澳大利亚饮食指南的一致性。
从12个月大起，饮用含糖饮料的儿童比例随年龄持续增加（例如，12个月大时饮用果汁的儿童占21.8%，4岁时占76.7%）。然而，幼儿最常饮用的饮料是牛奶和水，这与澳大利亚饮食指南相符。关于其他龋齿风险因素，6个月大的儿童会共用餐具，12个月大时，四分之三的照顾者在喂食前会品尝孩子的食物。
尽管已努力提高家长对这些问题的认识，但幼儿期含糖饮料消费的增加以及龋齿和肥胖其他风险因素的普遍存在仍是一个问题。
