Unit 2: Health Effects of Complementary Feeding

Childhood obesity can adversely affect almost every organ system (refer to figure 2 below), and have adverse consequences on health including adult obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, some cancer types and fatty liver disease (Daniels 2009).

It has been demonstrated in a number of observational studies, and meta-analyses/systematic reviews that breastfeeding has a protective effect against the risk of obesity (See Module 1: Breastfeeding). It has been suggested by some studies, that an early introduction of complementary foods may increase the risk of overweight/obesity in childhood and later adult life, compared to a later introduction whilst some studies have suggested that there may be differences in the risk of overweight/obesity for breastfed and non-breast fed infants (Przyrembel 2012).

Therefore, ESPGHAN advises that "with the increasing incidence of child and adulthood obesity, it is important to consider whether complementary feeding practices influence the risk of overweight and obesity" (Agostoni et al. 2008).

Figure 2: Complications associated with childhood obesity.
Image obtained by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry from a teenage girl with BMI 38 kg/m².
Disorders that are of high prevalence and are well established in their association with childhood obesity are shown in red.
PCOS= polycystic ovary syndrome
SCFE=slipped capital femoral epiphysis

Source: Han et al. 2010, reprinted from the Lancet with permission from Elsevier