Study suggests prolonged bottle feeding increases the risk of obesity

Dr. Robert Whitaker and Rachel Gooze of the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University, and Dr. Sarah Anderson of The Ohio State University College of Public Health, analyzed data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, a large national study of children born in 2001. They analyzed data from 6750 children to estimate the association between bottle use at 24 months of age and the risk of obesity at 5.5 years of age.

Of the children studied, 22% were prolonged bottle users, meaning that at 2 years of age they used a bottle as their primary drink container and/or were put to bed with a calorie-containing bottle. Nearly 23% of the prolonged bottle users were obese by the time they were 5.5 years old. “Children who were still using a bottle at 24 months were approximately 30% more likely to be obese at 5.5 years, even after accounting for other factors such as the mother's weight, the child's birth weight, and feeding practices during infancy,” Dr. Whitaker notes.

Drinking from a bottle beyond infancy may contribute to obesity by encouraging the child to consume too many calories. “A 24-month-old girl of average weight and height who is put to bed with an 8-ounce bottle of whole milk would receive approximately 12% of her daily caloric needs from that bottle,” Rachel Gooze explains. She notes that weaning children from the bottle by the time they are 1 year of age is unlikely to cause harm and may prevent obesity. The authors suggest that pediatricians and other health professionals work with parents to find acceptable solutions for stopping bottle use at the child's first birthday.

The study, reported in “Prolonged Bottle Use and Obesity at 5.5 Years of Age in US Children” by Rachel A. Gooze, MPH, Sarah E. Anderson, PhD, and Robert C. Whitaker, MD, MPH, appears in The Journal of Pediatrics, DOI 10.1016/j.jpeds.2011.02.037, published by Elsevier.

Media Contact

Brigid Huey EurekAlert!

More Information:

http://www.cchmc.org

All latest news from the category: Studies and Analyses

innovations-report maintains a wealth of in-depth studies and analyses from a variety of subject areas including business and finance, medicine and pharmacology, ecology and the environment, energy, communications and media, transportation, work, family and leisure.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

EEG ad tDCS chould serve as the basis of therapeutic strategies to combat newrological disorders. Image Credit: Institute of Science Tokyo

Using Electroencephalography to Improve Language Disorder Treatments

Researchers work towards an inexpensive and portable solution for treating aphasia  Electroencephalography (EEG) may offer a more accessible alternative to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for guiding transcranial direct current…

The BioSCape team is poctured with NASA and South African aircraft. Image Credit: Jeremey Shelton/Fishwater Films

Measuring Life on Earth from Space: A Global Research Project

Measurements and data collected from space can be used to better understand life on Earth. An ambitious, multinational research project funded by NASA and co-led by UC Merced civil and…

NEJM study finds patients with blockages in medium-sized vessels in the brain who had endovascular treatment did not do any better and did not see any improvement compared to patients who had the standard of care. Dr. Michael Hill, MD, Dr. Mayank Goyal, MD, PhD (right). Image Credit: Riley Brandt, University of Calgary

Best Approach for Stroke in Medium-Sized Blood Vessels Identified

Calgary’s Stroke Program advancing science to improve care, treatment and outcomes for patients  University of Calgary’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute researchers with the Calgary Stroke Program at Foothills Medical Centre revolutionized…