Mode of infant feeding and achieved growth in adolescence: Early feeding patterns in relation to growth and body composition in adolescence

Objective: Feeding mode in infancy and differences in childhood growth have been studied in several longitudinal studies, but few studies have followe d children up to adolescent age. There is evidence that formula-fed infants weigh more and are taller than their breast-fed counterparts, and indicati ons that this difference may sustain. Research Methods and Procedures: We have studied the relations between leng th of breast-feeding, growth, and body composition in a group of 781 repres entatively chosen adolescents. Data on feeding pattern in infancy and on we ight and height from birth up to 18 years were collected. We studied the re lation between high body mass index (BMI) (defined as less than or equal to 85(th) percentile) in adolescence and length of breast-feeding. Results: Girls who were not breast-fed or breast-fed for less than 3 months had a significantly higher height curve than girls exclusively breast-fed for more then 3 months. There were tendencies towards higher values of adip ose tissue measured by skinfolds in girls breast-fed for 3 months or less. Short duration of exclusive breast-feeding was associated with higher BMI ( p<0.04). In a subgroup of 194 adolescents, body composition was measured wi th dual energy X-ray. Both boys and girls who were exclusively breast-fed f or more than 3 months were leaner and showed a trend towards lower skinfold values. Conclusion: These results are important to include in the debate about opti mal feeding in infancy. Regarding breastfeeding as a standard, our results imply that formula fed infants may be at risk for overfeeding, which might lead to overweight, even up to adolescent age.