Giulia Cinelli¹, Marta Fabrizi¹, Blegina Shashaj¹, Giuseppe De Matteis^{1, 2}, Giorgio Bedogni³, Donatella Comparcola⁴, Stefania Ruggeri⁵, Valerio Nobili⁴, Melania Manco^1,

Infant feeding choices are pivotal for growth and may affect the risk of overweight later in life. The objective of the study was to explore: (i) adherence to World Health Organization (WHO, exclusive breast feeding, BF, in the first 6 months) and European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPHGAN, complementary feeding, CF, between 17 and 26 weeks of age and cow’s milk introduction at 1 year of age) recommendations; (ii) and the effect of these practice on infants’ anthropometrics and adiposity at 1 year of age. The study was based on the sample of infants (n = 462) from the “Feeding” cohort whose feeding behaviours were monthly investigated from birth to 1 year of age and anthropometrics, thickness of epicardial adipose (EAT), abdominal subcutaneous, and visceral adipose tissues, measured at 1 year of age. Exclusively breast-fed infants were 69.5% (n=321) at birth but 19.9% (n=92) at 6 months of age. CF was introduced at the median age of 5 (4-6), with 64.5% (n=298) of infants complying the ESPHGAN guidelines, while cow’s milk was introduced at the age of 11 (10-12) months. Age of CF was associated with weight-to-length ratio (coeff.= -0.002, 95% CI -0.003 to -0.000, p = 0.018, r). Age of cow’s milk introduction with weight-to-length ratio as well (coeff.= 0.001, 95% CI 0.000, 0.002, p=0.025; and EAT (coeff.=0.038, 95% CI 0.012 to 0.063, p = 0.004) at 1-y. Feeding practices complied with WHO recommendations in one infant out of five, and ESPHGAN recommendations in about seven out of ten. Early CF and cow’s milk were both associated with anthropometrics at 1-y, while exclusively BF was not.

infant diet, breastfeeding, formula feeding, complementary feeding, growth, visceral adiposity