Nutrition beyond the first 1000 days: diet quality and 7-year change in BMI and overweight in 3-year old children from the Dutch GECKO Drenthe birth cohort
Petra C. Vinke, Milou H. H. S. Luitjens, Karlien A. Blijleven, Gerjan Navis, Daan Kromhout, Eva Corpeleijn
Abstract
The identification of early-life determinants of overweight is crucial to start early prevention. As weight gain accelerates between 2 and 6 years, we studied the association between diet quality in children aged 3 years and the change in BMI and overweight incidence in the following 7 years. From the Dutch GECKO Drenthe birth cohort, 1001 children born in 2006 or 2007 with complete data on diet (food frequency questionnaire at the age of 3 years) and growth at the age of 3 and 10 years were included. Diet quality was estimated with the evidence-based Lifelines Diet Score (LLDS). Measured height and weight at the age of 3 and 10 years were used to calculate BMI z-scores standardized for age and sex. The associations of the LLDS (in quintiles) with BMI-z change and overweight incidence were studied with linear and logistic regression analyses. Overweight prevalence in the total study population increased from 8.3% at the age of 3 years to 16.7% at the age of 10 years. The increase in overweight prevalence ranged from 14.7% in Q1 to 3.5% in Q5. Children with a better diet quality (higher quintiles of LLDS) increased significantly less in BMI-z (confounder adjusted βLLDS = -0.064 (-0.101; -0.026)). Children with a poor diet quality at the age of 3 years had a considerably higher risk for overweight at the age of 10 years (confounder adjusted OR for Q1 vs. Q5 was 2.86 (95% CI 1.34-6.13). These results show the importance of diet in healthy development in the early life following the first 1000 days when new habits for a mature diet composed of food groups with lifelong importance are developed, providing a relevant window for overweight prevention early in life.