Energy intake in early infancy and childhood fatness.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether aspects of infant energy intake are related to fatness in early childhood.

DESIGN

Longitudinal investigation of infants studied at 12 weeks and 2-3.5 y.

SUBJECTS

20 healthy infants, breast-fed or formula-fed, from the general population.

MEASUREMENTS

Milk volume intake (MVI) by deuterium turnover, estimated energy intake, weaning status and body composition in infancy, body composition in childhood.

RESULTS

MVI was not related to infant skinfolds or percentage fat. Weaning was inversely related to MVI (P < 0.04) at 12 weeks, and inversely related to skinfolds (P = 0.055) and fat mass (P = 0.020) in childhood. MVI and total energy intake were not related to childhood fatness.

CONCLUSIONS

Early weaning was associated with a moderate reduction in childhood fatness. Two possible mechanisms are discussed. However, early infant energy intake was not an important determinant of later fatness in this population.