Toddler diet link to rapid infant growth and future obesity

THE diets of toddlers will go under the microscope to undercover at what point, and from what food, roly-poly puppy fat increases the risk of future obesity.

Deakin University researcher Dr Miaobing Zheng, with two-year-old daughter Mia, is investigating the diets of toddlers. Picture: Rebecca Michael

THE diets of toddlers will go under the microscope to discover at what point, and from what food, the roly-poly puppy fat of early childhood starts to increase the risk of future obesity.

Previous studies have shown that rapid growth in the first two years of life puts a child at a two-to-threefold increased risk of being overweight or obese in later childhood and as adults.

BRAIN SIGNALS MAY HOLD KEY TO WEIGHT LOSS

But with a quarter of Australian children overweight or obese by age five, few studies have worked to uncover what specific diets are linked to rapid infant growth and subsequent childhood obesity.

In what will be the most comprehensive analysis of the diets and growth patterns of Australian infants, researchers from Deakin University’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition will probe more than 3000 children from four longitudinal cohort studies.

Early career research fellow Dr Miaobing Zheng and her team will look at what specific food groups influence growth and obesity, including whether high-protein diets can lead to obesity.

“People think a little bit of weight during infancy shouldn’t be a problem,” Dr Zheng said.

“But the evidence has emerged to say that if you are overweight or your growth is very rapid, then that programs for later obesity risk.”

11.2M AUSSIES OVERWEIGHT OR OBESE

Rapid infant growth occurs when a child’s weight trajectory, set from their height and weight measurements from one month of age, changes before age two.

It is seen in about 20-40 per cent of Australian children.

The IPAN team will look at data from studies where the children are all born in the same year, and had body weight measurements and diets recorded regularly until they turned five.

Rapid growth in the early years of a child’s life can lead to obesity in later childhood and adulthood.

Principal supervisor and IPAN professor of population nutrition, Karen Campbell, said they hoped the findings would give them a “more nuanced insight” into the risk factors for weight gain to better inform parents and national feeding guidelines.

“What happens in early childhood is important because it sets up a trajectory for weight that is hard to shake,” Prof Campbell said.

“If, for example, we find that protein intake in the first six months of life is the main thing that predicts rapid growth and weight at age five, there’s more rationale to be explicit in how much protein should be in infant formulas.”

Dr Zheng received an Early Career Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council for this project.

@BrigidOConnell