CNRC Experts Help Shape New Feeding Guidelines
 Health
professionals have a new set of practical, scientifically
sound guidelines to help them answer parents' questions
about what, when, and how to feed complementary foods
to infants and toddlers.
The Start
Healthy Feeding Guidelines for Children Ages 6 to 24
Months were developed jointly by the American
Dietetic Association and Gerber
Food Products Company with guidance and oversight
by a panel of academic pediatric nutrition specialists.
The panel included CNRC scientists Dr.
William Heird and Dr.
Nancy Butte,
Tufts University professor Johanna Dwyer, Indiana University
professor Dr. Karyl Rickard, WIC project nutritionist
Laura
Graney, and nutrition consultant Kathleen Cobb.
 The guidelines were published in the March 2004
issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association
and also appear on the CNRC
website. See: StartHealthyGuidelines.html.
“The
Start Healthy guidelines are intended to complement
and expand statements from the American Academy of
Pediatrics and other expert groups -- not replace them,” said
Heird, a BCM professor of pediatrics. “They provide
practical and useful recommendations based on scientifically
sound evidence that could help establish healthy eating
patterns during infancy and childhood, which, hopefully,
will persist throughout life.”
The topics covered by
the guidelines include the nutrients needed from complementary
foods, food allergies and sensitivities, the development
of feeding skills, advice about how to feed infants
and toddlers, assuring food safety, and the importance
of physical activity.
According to Heird, evaluating the evidence on which
current recommendations are based was an important
step in developing the new guidelines.
"We found that some recommendations concerning
the order in which complementary foods should be introduced
and how often new foods should be introduced were not
based on sound scientific evidence. As a result, the
new guidelines are more flexible in these areas,” he
said.
To ensure the guidelines would represent reliable
conclusions derived from the relevant nutrition and
scientific literature, the panel used a systematic
evidence-based approach developed by the American Dietetic
Association. This approach establishes a hierarchy
of evidence in support of each recommendation, while
also recognizing the need for healthcare providers
to consider family values and preferences and the values
of society when making child feeding recommendations.
The panel's final recommendations are in the form
of answers to specific research questions, such as:
When is it appropriate to introduce textures? What
foods should be avoided to reduce food allergy risk?
How do infants and toddlers communicate hunger and
fullness?
“Research
showing that inappropriate foods are entering children's
diets at ages earlier than ever expected and the growing
problem of childhood obesity suggest that healthcare
providers need a better foundation for making infant
and toddler feeding recommendations and better tools
for communicating the importance of establishing healthy
habits early in childhood,” Heird said.
“These guidelines lay that foundation.”
|
