FOOD-INTAKE AND MEAL PATTERNS OF ONE-YEAR-OLD INFANTS

Nutrient intakes and meal patterns of 8.6 to 15.6 month old infants we re investigated by analysing data collected by the caregivers of 29 in fants. The caregivers maintained a 7-day diary which included everythi ng the infant ate and other factors including people present during me al time and time of meals. Daily intake and meal size increased as age increased for the infants. A high level of variability in meal size w as found, however, the variability in daily intake was much lower indi cating an ability to adjust intake at meals to maintain a relatively s table daily intake. Infants were found to be responsive to their stoma ch contents, however, the circadian rhythm of intake was absent and so cial facilitation of intake was blunted. It is suggested that these di fferences are due to the fact the infants have not yet learned to resp ond to the social and environmental factors which markedly influence t he intake of adults. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.