Washington, January 20: Delaying the use of solid and complimentary foods during infancy can protect the newborn against obesity later on in life, a new study finds.
Breastfeeding had long been considered as a weapon against obesity. The new study, however, claims that starting spoon-feeding later in infancy lowers the obesity rate.
According to the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the age at which parents introduce various types of foods to an infant may influence his/her body mass indexes (BMI) in adulthood.
Babies who were breastfed for longer have lower BMIs in adulthood. Delaying the introduction of complementary foods in both groups reduced the risk of becoming overweight in the long run by 5 to 10 percent.
“The later you introduce complementary feeding to an infant, within the range of 2 to 6 months, the smaller is the risk that the infant will be overweight as adult,” said lead researcher Kim Fleischer Michaelson of the University of Copenhagen.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and American Academy of Pediatrics urge mothers to breastfeed their babies exclusively for six months and to postpone spoon-feeding to older ages.
“I think it is best to wait with complementary foods until the infant is about 6 months old,” said Michaelson, stressing that complementary foods should not be introduced before four months even in special cases.
——–Agencies