The association of birth weight and postnatal growth with energy intake and eating behavior at 5 years of age – a birth cohort study

Abstract

BackgroundLow and high birth weight and accelerated postnatal weight gain are associated with an increased risk of obesity. Perinatal effects on energy intake and eating behavior have been proposed as underlying mechanisms. This study aimed to examine the independent associations of birth weight and postnatal weight and height gain with childhood energy intake and satiety response.MethodsIn a birth cohort study, we used data from 2227 children (52 % male), mean age 5.6 (±0.4) years. Mean daily energy intake and satiety response were parent-reported through validated questionnaires. Exposures were birth weight z-score and conditional weight and height gain between 0–1, 1–3, 3–6, 6–12 months and 12 months to 5 years. Conditional weight and height are residuals of current weight and height regressed on prior growth data, to represent deviations from expected growth. Analyses were adjusted for a set of potential confounding variables.ResultsConditional weight gain between 1–3, 3–6 months and 12 months to 5 years was significantly associated with energy intake, with 29.7 (95 %-CI: 4.6; 54.8), 24.0 (1.8; 46.1) and 79.5 (29.4; 129.7) kcal/day more intake for each Z-score conditional weight gain between 1–3, 3–6 months and 12 months to 5 years, respectively. Conditional height gain between 0–1, 1–3 months and 12 months to 5 years was negatively associated with energy intake (β: −42.0 [66.6; –17.4] for 0–1 months, −35.1 [−58.4; −11.8] for 1–3 months and −37.4 [−72.4; −2.3] for 12 months to 5 years). Conditional weight gain in all periods was negatively associated with satiety response, with effect sizes from − 0.03 (−0.06; −0.002) in early infancy to −0.12 (−0.19; −0.06) in childhood. Birth weight was not associated with energy intake or satiety response.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that accelerated infant and childhood weight gain are associated with increased energy intake and diminished satiety response at 5 years. Accelerated height gain seems to be beneficial for childhood energy intake. This perinatal ‘programming’ of energy intake and eating behavior provide a potential mechanism linking early life influences with later obesity and cardiovascular disease.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12966-016-0335-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Prevention of overweight and obesity in early life

“…Interestingly, a lower satiety response was found in the baby-led weaning group at 24 months. This may be important as low satiety responsiveness has been associated with rapid growth and increased obesity risk in previous studies (37,38) . While data from these studies are not strong enough to base public health recommendations on regarding best practice for complementary feeding, they support the need for further research to clarify relationships between complementary feeding method and risk of obesity.…”

Prenatal predictors of objectively measured appetite regulation in low‐income toddlers and preschool‐age children

“…With regard to the observed sex differences, prior works suggest that developmental programming occurs in a sex‐dependent manner, yet sex differences in birthweight–eating behaviour associations are mixed. Silveria and colleagues found associations between IUGR and impulsive eating in girls but not in boys, while Van Deutokem et al found similar associations between birthweight and satiety responsiveness in boys and girls; yet, most studies lacked sufficient sample size to examine sex differences. Further research on mechanisms underlying sex‐specific associations between birthweight and appetite regulation is needed.…”

“…** Cubic birthweight z score term is significant (Wald P < .1) also possible that prenatal influences on appetite regulation manifest later in childhood.Our findings suggest that poor appetite regulation may be a mechanism through which intrauterine programming promotes obesity risk while guiding areas in need of additional research. First, greater understanding of the independent and joint roles of prenatal and infant growth on appetite regulation is needed 40. Second, the role of prenatal determinants on distinct aspects of appetite regulation-for example, enjoyment of food or satiety responsiveness-requires further study.…”

Le Dréan et al Neonatal consumption of oligosaccharides deeply increases L-cells density without any significant consequence on adult eating behavior

“…In rodents, experiments based on maternal nutrition restriction or and/or manipulation of litter size have demonstrated that both pre-and post-natal nutrition may alter food intake [Desai et al 2007; Orozco-Solis et al 2009., Coupé et al 2011, Ndjim et al 2017] and/or food preference [Coupé et al 2012, Martin-Agnoux et al 2014Paradis et al 2017] in offspring, with subsequent repercussions at adulthood. In humans, although controversial results have been observed about the influence of prenatal nutrition on later eating behavior [see for review van Deutekom et al 2017], some observational evidences suggest that early nutrition/growth affects appetite regulation [Lussana et al 2008;Perala et al, 2012, van Deutekom et al 2016 and food preference programming as demonstrated after repeated exposition to novel flavors [De Cosmi et al 2017].…”