BACKGROUND After an era of only considering the allergenic properties of the infant diet and allergy outcomes, emerging data suggest that the overall composition of the infant diet might be a more important factor in the development of allergic disease. OBJECTIVE We sought to assess the relationship between infant dietary patterns in the first year of life and development of food allergy by a...

INFANT FEEDING PRACTICES AND BELIEFS AMONG WOMEN IN PODOR, WEST AFRICA by Heather L. Schwartz This thesis determines and describes infant feeding practices and beliefs amongst women in Podor, West Africa. Structured interviews were used to gather data pertaining to demographics, breastfeeding, complementary feeding, and weaning practices and beliefs. The aim of this thesis was to assemble basel...

Melamine can be lethal at high concentrations and has been used illegally to increase apparent protein content in food products including infant formula and milk powder. Milk tainted with melamine has caused death and illness in infants. Two years ago, the Codex Commission adopted a maximum melamine level of 1 mg/kg for powdered infant formula and of 2.5 mg/kg for other foods and animal feed. T...

DETERMINATION OF OXIDIZED LIPIDS IN COMMONLY CONSUMED FOODS AND THEIR BINDING AFFINITY FOR PPARγ by Joanna P. Skinner Background: Foods rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are susceptible to oxidation through heating or storage. Oxidized lipids are known to act as ligands for a transcription factor (PPAR-gamma) that affects adipocyte differentiation and insulin sensitivity. Objective: Th...

The first ‘age of man’ is the suckling who receives a single food, either breast milk (preferably) or a modern infant formula. The weanling continues with the suckling’s food but other foods have been introduced. These other foods are often referred to as ‘solid foods’, although initially they may be a mixture of powdered foods such as flours, sugar and dried milk or are a soft mush of mashed, ...

Cronobacter sakazakii has been isolated from a wide range of environmental sources and from several foods of animal and plant origin. While infections caused by C. sakazakii have predominantly involved neonates and infants, its presence on or in foods other than powdered infant formula raises concern about the safety risks these foods pose to immunocompromised consumers. We have done a series o...

Stunting and underweight among under-five children in Indonesia are common, raising public health concerns. Whether inappropriate complementary feeding (CF) practices compromise optimal growth during late infancy in Indonesia is uncertain. Therefore we characterized and evaluated CF practices in Indonesian infants and investigated their relationship with subsequent growth. We enrolled breastfed...

National legislation and global guidance address labelling of complementary foods to ensure that labels support optimal infant and young child feeding practices. This cross-sectional study assessed the labels of commercially produced complementary foods (CPCF) sold in Phnom Penh (n = 70), Cambodia; Kathmandu Valley (n = 22), Nepal; Dakar Department (n = 84), Senegal; and Dar es Salaam (n = 26),...

An alternative to traditional weaning methods known as baby-led weaning (BLW) appears to be emerging in the UK. This approach advocates bypassing typical weaning practices of spoon-feeding puréed foods or baby rice, encouraging instead the introduction of foods in their whole form to the infant from 6 months old. A key tenet of BLW is self-feeding. Anecdotally, the practice of BLW appears to be...

BACKGROUND Early introduction of solid food has been suspected to induce excessive infant energy intake and weight gain. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to test whether introduction of solid foods influences energy intake or growth. DESIGN Healthy, formula-fed infants who were recruited in 5 European countries were eligible for study participation. Anthropometric measurements were...