What do American babies eat?

• Position: Dietary Guidelines

You have to be at least two years old to be covered by U.S. dietary guidelines. For younger babies, no official guidance exists other than the general recommendation by national and international organizations that mothers exclusively breastfeed for at least the first six months. So, what do American babies eat? That is the question that motivated researchers at the University at Buffalo (N.Y.) School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to study the eating patterns of infants at six months and 12 months old, critical ages for the development of lifelong preferences.

The team found that dietary patterns of the children varied according to the racial, ethnic, and educational backgrounds of their mothers. For instance, babies whose diet included more breastfeeding and solid foods that adhere to infant guidelines from international and pediatric organizations were associated with higher household income (generally above $60,000 per year) and mothers with higher educational levels (ranging from some college to post-graduate education).

"We found that differences in dietary habits start very early," says Xiaozhong Wen, assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics and lead author on the paper. Fie conducts research in the Behavioral Medicine division, studying how and why obesity develops in infants and young children. Studying the first solid foods that babies eat can provide insight into whether or not they will develop obesity later on, he explains. "Dietary patterns are harder to change later if you ignore the first year, a critical period for the development of taste preferences and the establishment of eating habits."

In the study, babies whose dietary pattern was high in sugar, fat, and protein or high in dairy...