Consumption of sugary drinks and addition of honey or sugars to the liquids in infants up to two years-of-age belonging to a longitudinal multicenter study

Introduction: Proper nutrition during childhood is essential to ensure the child's growth and development. The World Health Organization recommends that the child be exclusively breastfed, up to six months of age and continued up to two years, including the complementary feeding. In this scenario, high-fat and high-sugar foods should not be offered to infants. Improving the quality of complementary foods is one of the most cost-effective strategies for improving health, reducing morbidity and mortality in children. The aim of this work was to describe the prevalence and monitoring in the consumption of sugary drinks and addition of honey or sugars to the liquids in infants up to two years-of-age and their associated factors. Methods: Observational longitudinal study with infants from Pelotas, Brazil, enrolled in a multicenter study performed in five medium- or low-income countries, which included only newborns who met specific criteria related to their capacity in reach their maximum growth potential. Consumption of sugary drinks was evaluated at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months-of-age by 24-hour food recall and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Addition of honey or sugar to liquids was evaluated at the same ages using FFQ. Independent variables were mothers' schooling, work, age and parity and infants' sex and nutritional status at 24 months. Bivariate analyses were performed using the Fisher's exact test. Results: One hundred and sixty-eight newborns were included in the study. Around 70% of the infants consumed sugary drinks in the 24 hours prior to interview in at least one follow-up from three to 24 months-of-age. About a third of the infants had daily addition of honey or sugar to the liquids in at least one follow-up. Infants from less schooled mothers showed higher consumption of sugary drinks up to 24 months-of-age (90%) in relation to infants from more schooled mothers (55.9%). Conclusions: Consumption of sugary drinks and addition of honey or sugar to the liquids was high in this sample. Around seven in every ten infants consumed sugary drinks in the 24 hours prior to the interview in at least one follow-up. Results were worrying since the current guidelines do not recommend the use of these foods in the complementary feeding of infants. It is important the implementation of policies and nutrition education programs about food habits in the first years of life, focusing in lower schooling families. (author)