Leermakers ETM, et al. – The physicians wished to figure out whether overall diet during early childhood was associated with cardiometabolic health and to examine if the difference in body composition explains this association. Their findings indicated that diet in early childhood probably affects cardiometabolic health independent of differences in body composition.

Methods

• This study enrolled 2,026 school–age Dutch children, in the Netherlands.
• In all the participants, association of different types of dietary patterns in infancy with cardiometabolic health was examined.
• With the aid of a food–frequency questionnaire, food intake at the age of 1 year was evaluated.
• Three dietary pattern approaches were used:
  • An a priori–defined diet quality score
  • Dietary patterns based on variation in food intake, derived from principal component analysis (PCA)
  • Dietary patterns based on variations in fat and fat–free mass index, derived with reduced–rank regression (RRR).
• At the children’s age of 6 years, the physicians measured their body composition, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and serum concentrations of insulin, triglycerides, and HDL–cholesterol, which they combined in a cardiometabolic risk–factor score.

Results

• They reported that, after adjustment for confounders, children with higher adherence to a ‘Health–conscious’ PCA–derived pattern had a lower cardiometabolic risk–factor score (–0.07 SD (95%CI–0.12;–0.02) per SD).
•  However, this association did not change after adjustment for fat and fat–free mass index. 
• The RRR–derived dietary patterns based on variations in body composition were not associated with the cardiometabolic risk–factor score.