Abstract

CORONA, Ligiana Pires  and  CONDE, Wolney Lisboa. The effect of breastfeeding in body composition of young children. Rev. bras. crescimento desenvolv. hum. [online]. 2013, vol.23, n.3, pp. 276-281. ISSN 0104-1282.

INTRODUCTION: the effect of breastfeeding over the body mass components still demands analyses aiming to further investigate the body composition evolution in the after-breastfeeding childhood. OBJECTIVE: analyze the influence of breastfeeding (BF) over the body composition of children under 3 years old. METHODS: 760 children between zero and 3 years old were selected from the data of the longitudinal, home-based study "Saúde das Crianças de São Paulo II" ["São Paulo's Children Health II"] (1995-1997). The outcome variables used were the anthropometric indexes BMI-for-age (Z_BI) and triceps skinfold-for-age (Z_DI) expressed in Z-scores based on the WHO reference curve. Panel regression models were used in the analyses, with data from the 3 visits, adjusted by: birth weight, mother's educational level and mother's age. RESULTS: there was no association between breastfeeding and Z_BI after multiple adjustments. There was inverse association between BF duration and the Z_DI index. The interaction between the mother educational level and the BF duration revealed the protective effect of higher educational level over Z_DI , when isolated. The mean nutritional indexes showed dose-response effect inversely proportional to the BF duration. CONCLUSION: breastfeeding showed protective effect against the mean body fat increase in children younger than 3 years.

Keywords : breastfeeding; nutritional status; child growth; child nourishment; nutrition.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in English     · English ( pdf ) | Portuguese ( pdf )