Unit 2: Health Effects of Complementary Feeding

There is little known about whether the diet during the complementary feeding period affects later cardiovascular outcomes.

According to the level of evidence up until 2008, ESPGHAN guidelines advise that

“it is not possible to make specific recommendations for choices or composition of complementary feedings based on cardiovascular outcomes. However, as a general guideline, additional salt should not be added to foods during infancy.”
(Agostoni et al. 2008)

The long term effects of early nutrition on cardiovascular disease will be addressed in a future module on metabolic programming.