Infants who breastfeed for shorter duration more likely to have obesity during childhood
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SAN DIEGO — Infants exposed to gestational diabetes who breastfeed for less than 6 months and drink sugar-sweetened beverages or natural fruit juice are more likely to have obesity during childhood, according to a presenter.
“This study is among the first to prospectively assess both breastfeeding and sugary beverage and fruit juice intake during the first year of life and subsequent child obesity,” Baiyang Sun, MPH, a senior consulting data analyst at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, said during a presentation at ObesityWeek 2022. “We found that offspring exposed to gestational diabetes show persistent twofold increased obesity risk of less healthy diet after accounting for fetal exposure. Our study suggests that early infancy may be a critical period of exposure that programs future obesity.”
, published in Diabetologia in May 2021, researchers found shorter duration of breastfeeding and any intake of sugar-sweetened beverages or 100% fruit juice in the first year of life for infants exposed to gestational diabetes increased the odds for childhood obesity at age 2 to 5 years. In the latest data presented by Sun, researchers examined associations between breastfeeding duration and sugar-sweetened beverage intake and obesity at age 6 to 11 years in the SWIFT cohort. The cohort included 793 children whose mothers had gestational diabetes from 2008 to 2011 (37% Asian, 30% Hispanic, 23% white, 8% Black). Breastfeeding and beverage intake from birth to age 1 year were self-reported. Inadequate breastfeeding was defined as breastfeeding for less than 6 months. Participants were put into four groups based on diet. The reference group included children with adequate breastfeeding and no sugar-sweetened beverage intake. The other three groups were adequate breastfeeding with sugar-sweetened beverage intake, inadequate breastfeeding with no sugar-sweetened beverage intake, and inadequate breastfeeding with sugar-sweetened beverage intake. Childhood obesity was defined as being in the 95th percentile or higher for BMI at age 6 to 11 years, and overweight was defined as being between the 85th percentile and 95th percentile for BMI.
Of the study cohort, 39% of children were in the adequate breastfeeding with sugar-sweetened beverage group, 30% were in the inadequate breastfeeding with sugar-sweetened beverage group, 10% had inadequate breastfeeding with no sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and 21% were in the reference group with adequate breastfeeding and no sugar-sweetened beverage intake. Obesity at age 6 to 11 years was observed in 25% of the cohort, and 18% of the cohort had overweight.
The percentage of children with obesity increased with inadequate breastfeeding and sugar-sweetened beverage intake. After adjusting for covariates, children who had inadequate breastfeeding and drank sugar-sweetened beverages in infancy (adjusted OR = 1.84; 95% CI, 1.02-3.32) and those with inadequate breastfeeding but no sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (aOR = 2.19; 95% CI, 1.04-4.61) had increased odds for childhood obesity compared with the reference groups. There was no significant difference in obesity odds for the adequate breastfeeding with sugar-sweetened beverage intake group. None of the groups had significantly different odds for overweight compared with the reference group.
“Our findings further confirm recommendations to promote breastfeeding adequacy and limit sugary beverages and fruit juice during early life,” Sun said.
Reference:
- Vandyousefi S, et al. Diabetologia. 2021;doi:10.1007/s00125-020-05379-y.
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Sun B. O-006. Presented at: ObesityWeek; Nov. 1-4, 2022; San Diego.
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