Executive summary: evaluating the evidence base to support the inclusion of infants and children from birth to 24 mo of age in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans—“the B-24 Project”

Abstract

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) are the cornerstone of US government efforts to promote health and prevent disease through diet and nutrition. The DGA currently provides guidelines for ages ≥ 2 y. In an effort to determine the strength of the evidence to support the inclusion of infants and children from birth to age 24 mo, the partner agencies led by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and the USDA Center for Nutrition Program and Policy initiated the project entitled "Evaluating the evidence base to support the inclusion of infants and children from birth to 24 months of age in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans--the B-24 Project." This project represents the first step in the process of applying systematic reviews to the process of deciding whether the evidence is sufficient to include this age group in future editions of the DGA. This supplement includes the B-24 Executive Summary, which describes the B-24 Project and the deliberations of the 4 working groups during the process of developing priority topics for the systematic review, and a research agenda to address the critical gaps. Also included in this supplement issue is an article on the Nutrition Evidence Library methodology for developing systematic review questions and articles from the invited content presenters at the B-24 Prime meeting.

Sugar-containing beverage intake in toddlers and body composition up to age 6 years: The Generation R Study

“…Currently, dietary guidelines do not contain any recommendations regarding limiting SCB intake in preschool children. 32,33 Our results give further indications that toddlers should also be targeted in prevention programs.…”

“…Considering the evidence that decreasing SCB intake will reduce obesity, our study indicates that public health policies trying to limit SCB intake should also focus on children aged o 2 years, a group which is currently not included in dietary guidelines. 32,33 To our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the association between SCB intake before 2 years of age and body composition during childhood, with repeatedly measured BMI. We conclude that, in girls, SCB intake at 13 months is associated with higher BMI up to 6 years of age.…”

Learning to like vegetables during breastfeeding: a randomized clinical trial of lactating mothers and infants

“…Not surprisingly, Healthy People 2020 includes as one of its goals an increase in the variety and contribution of vegetables in the diets of all Americans $2 y of age (11). Similar recommendations will most likely be made for even younger Americans (12).…”

Usual food intakes of 2- and 3-year old U.S. children are not consistent with dietary guidelines

“…This gap in knowledge about the diets of very young children is critically important because evidence shows that eating patterns and food preferences are established early in life [14][15][16][17]. In addition, as nutrition experts are working to extend the Dietary Guidelines to include guidance for children from birth to 24 months [18], it is important to understand how consumption patterns of our youngest children compare to current recommendations.…”

“…A secondary purpose is to gain insight into the food choices that contribute to over-or under-consumption of key food groups and dietary constituents. The analysis used data from the Feeding and Infants and Toddlers Study, 2008 (FITS), which has made major contributions to our understanding of the food and nutrient intakes of children from birth through 24 months [1,4,[18][19][20][21][22][23].…”