FAT AND CHOLESTEROL IN THE DIET OF INFANTS AND YOUNG-CHILDREN - IMPLICATIONS FOR GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT, AND LONG-TERM HEALTH

Fat is necessary in the diets of infants and young children because of their extraordinary energy needs and limited dietary capacity. In add ition, essential fatty acids provide the substrates for arachidonic ac id, docosahexaenoic acid, and their metabolites. Deficiencies in the a mounts of these long-chain fatty acids in the diet during infancy may affect the maturation of the central nervous system, including visual development and intelligence. Efforts to link the diet in infancy and early childhood to the development of chronic diseases in adulthood ar e hampered by a lack of supportive epidemiologic and clinical data. Se rum cholesterol and lipid levels during childhood correlate only weakl y with their levels at maturity. Studies in twins suggest that there i s a Targe genetic component to serum lipid levels. Similarly, the corr elation between obesity in early childhood and in adulthood is weak. Y oung children who receive fat-restricted diets in which fat accounts f or 30% or less of their intake appear to grow normally but are more li kely not to consume the recommended dietary allowances of many nutrien ts. Therefore fat should not be restricted in the diets of infants and young children. Restricting fat to approximately 30% of the calories consumed is reasonable after the age of 2 years, but the benefits of t his recommendation remain to be proved.