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Infant egg consumption during introduction to solid food remains low in the United Kingdom but increases with infant age and a baby‐led weaning approach
Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Volume: 36, Issue: 4, Pages: 1279 - 1289
Swansea University Author:
Amy Brown
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© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Dietetic Association. Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
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DOI (Published version): 10.1111/jhn.13140
Abstract
Background: As a nutritious food-providing protein, essential fatty acids, vitamin D, iodine and choline eggs have historically been central to an infant weaning diet. However, food poisoning scares and allergy concerns have contributed to low consumption among infants aged 6–12 months. Methods: Thi...
| Published in: | Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics |
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| ISSN: | 0952-3871 1365-277X |
| Published: |
Wiley
2023
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| Online Access: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63792 |
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| Abstract: |
Background: As a nutritious food-providing protein, essential fatty acids, vitamin D, iodine and choline eggs have historically been central to an infant weaning diet. However, food poisoning scares and allergy concerns have contributed to low consumption among infants aged 6–12 months. Methods: This paper presents a secondary data analysis of infant egg exposure and intake using three weaning data sets: a 7-day food frequency questionnaire (n = 297), a 24-h recall (n = 180) and a 3-day weighed food diary (n = 71). Egg introduction, frequency of consumption and intake in grams were analysed for infants aged 6–8, 9–10 and 11–12 months). Comparisons were made by whether infants were following a baby-led approach to weaning (where infants self-feed family foods) or a traditional approach where pureed foods are given alongside finger foods. Data were collected in the United Kingdom between 2015 and 2018. Results: Our data showed that despite introduction being recommended from the start of weaning at 6 months of age by the Department of Health, just 54% of infants aged 6–8 months had ever been offered eggs. Average egg intake was one to two times per week, increasing with age. However, in terms of frequency and grams consumed, our data suggest a small increase in consumption compared with previous research, although limitations of our smaller sample size should be noted. Finally, a baby-led approach was associated with increased exposure and consumption; baby-led infants consumed eggs twice as frequently as spoon-fed infants. Conclusions: The findings have important implications for public health messaging and for supporting families in introducing solid foods. |
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| Keywords: |
Baby-led weaning, complementary feeding, eggs, infant diet, starting solids, weaning |
| College: |
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |
| Funders: |
Swansea University. The data were collected as part of an unfunded PhD thesis. Therefore, the study design, data collection and initial analysis were unfunded. The British Egg Industry Council funded additional secondary analysis of the data to produce this paper. No additional data were collected. |
| Issue: |
4 |
| Start Page: |
1279 |
| End Page: |
1289 |