Trial reportThe British journal of nutrition2016
Effect of dietary protein on plasma insulin-like growth factor-1, growth, and body composition in healthy term infants: a randomised, double-blind, controlled trial (Early Protein and Obesity in Childhood (EPOCH) study).
Trial report in The British journal of nutrition, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 76 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review to Reassess the Formula for Early Life Growth.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2026Pooled it
- Effect of early-life protein supplementation on childhood obesity and related metabolic outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Higher versus lower protein intake in formula-fed term infants.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Protein and growth during the first year of life: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Pediatric research · 2023Pooled it
- The Association of Formula Protein Content and Growth in Early Infancy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- Breastfeeding and risk of overweight in childhood and beyond: a systematic review with emphasis on sibling-pair and intervention studies.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- Protein Intake from Birth to 2 Years and Obesity Outcomes in Later Childhood and Adolescence: A Systematic Review of Prospective Cohort Studies.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2021Pooled it
- Metabolic and hormonal serum markers in early childhood: Follow-up of a randomized controlled trial during infancy evaluating a modified, low-protein infant formula.Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition · 2026Trial
- Anthropometry and Body Composition in Childhood: Follow-Up of a Randomised, Double-Blinded Controlled Trial With a Modified, Low-Protein Infant Formula During Infancy.Pediatric obesity · 2025Trial
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- Associations of protein intake in early childhood with body composition, height, and insulin-like growth factor I in mid-childhood and early adolescence.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2019Trial
- Association of infant formula composition and anthropometry at 4 years: Follow-up of a randomized controlled trial (BeMIM study).PloS one · 2018Trial
- Exclusive Breastfeeding and Growth Trajectories Until 5 Years of Age Among Children Monitored in Primary Health Care in Brazil.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2026Article
- Systematic Search of Height and Weight Changes of Exclusively Breastfed Infants Until 1 Year of age: A Contribution from the ConcePTION Project.Clinical pharmacokinetics · 2025Review
- Infant body composition: A comprehensive overview of assessment techniques, nutrition factors, and health outcomes.Nutrition in clinical practice : official publication of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition · 2023Review
- Influence of Adipose Tissue on Early Metabolic Programming: Conditioning Factors and Early Screening.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
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Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The effect of protein intake on growth velocity in infancy may be mediated by insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). This study aimed to determine the effects of formulae containing 1·8 (F1·8) or 2·7 g (F2·7) protein/418·4 kJ (100 kcal) on IGF-1 concentrations and growth. Healthy term infants were randomly assigned to receive F1·8 (n 74) or F2·7 (n 80) exclusively for the first 4 months of life. A group of breast-fed infants (n 84) was followed-up simultaneously (reference). Growth and body composition were measured at 0·5, 4, 6, 12, 36, 48 and 60 months of life. The IGF-1 concentrations at 4 months (primary outcome) were similar in the F1·8 (67·1 (sd 20·8) ng/l; n 70) and F2·7 (71·2 (sd 27·5) ng/l; n 73) groups (P=0·52). Both formula groups had higher IGF-1 concentrations than the breast-fed group at 4 and 9 months of age (P≤0·0001). During the first 60 months of life, anthropometric parameters in the F1·8 group were lower compared with the F2·7 group, and the differences were significant for head circumference from 2 to 60 months, body weight at 4 and 6 months and length at 9, 12 and 36 months of age. There were no significant differences in body composition between these two groups at any age. We conclude that, in formula-fed infants, although increased protein intake did not affect the IGF-1 concentration during the first 12 months of life, it did affect length and head circumference growth, suggesting that factors other than IGF-1 could play roles in determining growth velocity.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.