Fish and rapeseed oil consumption in infants and mothers: dietary habits and determinants in a nationwide sample in Germany.

purposeFish and rapeseed oil are major sources of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) in complementary food, but little is known about current consumption in Germany.

methodsWe conducted a nationwide consumer survey to assess the consumption habits of fish and rapeseed oil and their determining factors in 985 mother-child dyads in Germany.

resultsOne-fourth of infants ate fish as often as recommended, i.e. at least once per week. Half of the mothers stated that they mainly used rapeseed oil for self-prepared and/or commercial vegetable-potato-meat meals. In contrast, mothers more frequently met recommendations for fish consumption (41 %), but used rapeseed oil (34 %) less often for their own nutrition. Maternal eating behaviour was the most important predictor for both of these n-3 PUFA rich foods in infants' nutrition. In contrast to infants' fish consumption, rapeseed oil intake in infancy was found to be influenced by some further factors, i.e. mothers' social class and omega-3 knowledge, which were also key determinants of mothers' own fish and rapeseed oil consumption.

conclusionTo promote fish with complementary feeding, programs should focus on families whose mothers rarely eat fish. Nutritional campaigns to improve omega-3 knowledge-especially focusing on lower social classes-could be effective in increasing rapeseed oil consumption, although these programs should be combined with environmental improvements as it has been already started through the use of rapeseed oil in commercial baby jars.