EUCCONET meeting – HabEat WP1 results– 18 th October 2011 – Bristol, United Kingdom Early parental feeding practices and later fruit and vegetable intake in 4 European birth cohorts Cohorts involved: ALSPAC, EDEN, EUROPREVALL-Greece, GENERATION XXI

EUCCONET meeting – HabEat WP1 results– 18 th October 2011 – Bristol, United Kingdom Context Fruit and vegetables in children – Lower than recommendations (5 servings/day) in France and in the UK – even in early life Hypothesis of a sensitive period for the introduction of tastes – between 4 and 6 months of age? Few studies on influence of early parental feeding practices on subsequent fruit and vegetable intake Age at weaning and later fruit or vegetable intake

EUCCONET meeting – HabEat WP1 results– 18 th October 2011 – Bristol, United Kingdom Methods Analyses based on 4 cohorts: – ALSPAC: 9000 children followed from birth to 17y (all data available) – EDEN: 2000 children followed from birth to 5y (data available until 3y) – EUROPREVALL: 1000 children followed from birth to 3y (3y on going) – GENERATION XXI: 8600 children followed from birth to 4y (900 with data on weaning) Similar analysis plan across the 4 cohorts – Fruit and vegetables intake in young children ALSPAC: 2y3y4y EDEN: 2y3y EUROPREVALL: 2y GENERATION XXI: 4y

EUCCONET meeting – HabEat WP1 results– 18 th October 2011 – Bristol, United Kingdom Methods Fruit and vegetable intake assessment: – Fruit intake from FFQ: exclusive of jams/jellies, fruit juice – Vegetables intake from FFQ: exclusive of legumes and potatoes Common cut-off: – Fruit: >1/d (vs 1/d) – Vegetables: >1/d (vs 1/d) in ALSPAC, EDEN, EUROPREVALL >3/d (vs 3/d) in GENERATION XXI FruitVegetables ModelAny breastfeeding Age at intro. of fruit Age at intro. any other foods Child's age (mo) Maternal age Education level Maternal smoking Any breastfeeding Age at intro. of veg Age at intro. any other foods Child's age (mo) Maternal age Education level Maternal smoking

EUCCONET meeting – HabEat WP1 results– 18 th October 2011 – Bristol, United Kingdom Descriptive statistics

EUCCONET meeting – HabEat WP1 results– 18 th October 2011 – Bristol, United Kingdom Descriptive statistics

EUCCONET meeting – HabEat WP1 results– 18 th October 2011 – Bristol, United Kingdom Descriptive statistics

EUCCONET meeting – HabEat WP1 results– 18 th October 2011 – Bristol, United Kingdom Multivariate results p< p=0.09 p=0.05 p=0.04p< p=0.2 p<0.0001

EUCCONET meeting – HabEat WP1 results– 18 th October 2011 – Bristol, United Kingdom Multivariate results p=0.01 p=0.9 p=0.2 p=0.1 p=0.5 p=0.7

EUCCONET meeting – HabEat WP1 results– 18 th October 2011 – Bristol, United Kingdom Multivariate results p=0.7p=0.04 p=0.9 p=0.2 p=0.1 p=0.07

EUCCONET meeting – HabEat WP1 results– 18 th October 2011 – Bristol, United Kingdom Summary Great differences across countries in early feeding practices – Breastfeeding duration – Age at weaning Associations between age at weaning and later F&V intake not consistent across cohorts – probably due not to the age at weaning itself but to another cultural confounder not evaluated Other factors consistently related to F&V intake (not shown) – Longer breastfeeding -> higher F&V intake in childhood – Higher maternal education level -> higher F&V intake in childhood – Higher F&V during pregnancy -> higher F&V intake in childhood