The EU Childhood Obesity Project
2009
de la Hunty, A.
The European Union Childhood Obesity Project was set up in 2001 to test the hypothesis that the higher risk of obesity seen in formula-fed infants - as compared with breastfed babies - is a result of the higher protein content in infant formulas than in breastmilk. The infants participating in the study were recruited between 2002 and 2004 and followed up for 2 years. The first results of the study were published earlier this year. After 2 years, the weight-for-length and body mass index of the infants fed the lower-protein formula were significantly lower than those fed the higher-protein formulas. Extrapolating from previous studies suggests that the children in the higher-protein group have a 13% increased risk of being obese in adolescence compared with those in the lower-protein group. An analysis of the timing of weaning has also been published: this showed that formula-fed infants were given solid foods on average 2 weeks earlier than breastfed infants (19 weeks compared with 21 weeks) and were twice as likely to be introduced to solid foods before the age of 4 months as breastfed infants.
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