Breastfeeding associated with early childhood fruit and vegetable intake

There appears to be a relationship between how long a baby is breastfed and how many fruits and vegetables the child eats in preschool.

Michigan State University Extension recognizes that breastfeeding is good for the health of both mother and baby. A new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reveals that infants who are breastfed may also have a better diet in preschool. This study combined four different groups from Britain, France, Portugal and Greece, totaling nearly 10,000 children. The goal was to try to understand how early breastfeeding practices affected fruit and vegetable intake in children 2- to 4-years-old.

Mothers were asked in a study how long they breastfed and when they first introduced fruits and vegetables to their infants in the first 1- to 2-years of the child’s life. The mothers were contacted again when the child was 2- to 4-years-old and asked how often their children ate fruits and vegetables. The study showed that at this stage of early childhood there was no relationship between the time the babies first ate fruits and vegetables and how many fruits and vegetables the children ate in preschool.

There was, however, a relationship between how long a baby was breastfed and how many fruits and vegetables the child ate in preschool. The study showed that the longer a baby was breastfed, the more likely they were to eat fruits and vegetables in preschool. The relationship was significant in the British and French groups, which had the most detailed information. Compared to those who were breastfed for three to six months, children who were never breastfed were about 20 percent less likely to eat at least one vegetable each day and 20 to 30 percent less likely to eat at least one fruit each day. In the British study, researchers measured fruit and vegetable intake until the child was 13-years-old and still found a significant relationship with breastfeeding duration.

What is the cause of this relationship? Based on previous studies, the authors believed that when a baby is breastfed, they receive many different flavors from the breast milk that come from the mother’s diet. This may increase the child’s acceptance of fruits and especially vegetables later in life.

MSU Extension’s Breastfeeding Mother to Mother program educates, supports and encourages mothers to breastfeed their baby until they are one year of age.

For additional information on breastfeeding your baby, go to www.bfi.fcs.msue.msu.edu and look under fact sheets.

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