Nutrition & Body Composition in Infancy

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WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for infants until age 6 months. The scientific evidence for the recommendation is strong but several issues wait to be studied. Development of body composition until 1 year and association with factors which may be determinants for infant nutrition, their eating behavior and possibly temperament, have not been investigated in detail.

This prospective longitudinal study includes infants exclusively breastfed for 5-6 months or receiving complementary foods from 3-4 months in real-life setting in Iceland.

The project is funded by the Icelandic Research Fund.

Our principal investigator: Birna Þórisdóttir, Assistant professor in nutrition

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WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for infants until age 6 months. The scientific evidence for the recommendation is strong but several issues wait to be studied. Development of body composition until 1 year and association with factors which may be determinants for infant nutrition, their eating behavior and possibly temperament, have not been investigated in detail.

This prospective longitudinal study includes infants exclusively breastfed for 5-6 months or receiving complementary foods from 3-4 months in real-life setting in Iceland.

Investigating body composition is at ages 6 and 12 months with stable isotopes in singly or doubly labelled water

Investigating the infants’ temperament and appetite, and associations with hormones in breast milk

Measuring metabolizable breast milk energy with 2H18O, but such measures are lacking in the international literature

The scientific novelty of this study lies in studying the development of long-term body composition by technical methods alongside infant behavior and temperament, and the properties of breast milk. More comprehensive understanding of the relationships between infant diet, growth and behavior could be highly significant and have an impact on the development of infant nutrition recommendations.

  • Inga Þórsdóttir - Professor of Nutrition, University of Iceland
  • Jonathan Wells - Professor of Anthropology and Pediatric Nutrition, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, London, UK
  • Mary Fewtrell - Professor of Paediatric Nutrition, UCL GOS Institute of Child Health, London, UK
  • Ronald E. Kleinman - Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, USA

The Icelandic Research Fund (Rannís) – Grant no 196157-051