ArticleInternational journal of obesity (2005)2016
Protein intake in early childhood and body composition at the age of 6 years: The Generation R Study.
Article in International journal of obesity (2005), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 75 citations in OpenAlex.
- Animal and plant protein intake during infancy and childhood DNA methylation: a meta-analysis in the NutriPROGRAM consortium.Epigenetics · 2024Pooled 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
- Clinical audit in the pediatric primary care office and overweight prevention in toddlers.BMC pediatrics · 2020Pooled it
- Food Consumption, Nutrient Intake and Status during the First 1000 days of Life in the Netherlands: a Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2019Pooled it
- Milk-cereal mix supplementation during infancy and impact on neurodevelopmental outcomes at 12 and 24 months of age: a randomised controlled trial in India.The British journal of nutrition · 2023Trial
- 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
- Replacing protein with carbohydrate or fat in infancy is associated with lower Body Mass Index in early childhood: results from the Melbourne InFANT Program.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Article
- Association of Early Nutrition and Growth and Metabolic Parameters in Very Low Birth Weight Infants.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Protein intake and insulin-like growth factor-1 at 12 months and associations with growth, body composition, and metabolic syndrome at 8 years.Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition · 2025Observational
- Observational
- Association between protein-to-energy ratio and overweight/obesity in children and adolescents in the United States: a cross-sectional study based on NHANES.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2024Article
- Effects of early introduction of solid foods on nutrient intake in preterm infants during their 1st year of life: a secondary outcome analysis of a prospective, randomized intervention study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Article
- Dietary Intake among Children Attending Childcare Centers: Impact of the New CACFP Meal Guidelines.Nutrients · 2022Article
- Infancy Dietary Patterns, Development, and Health: An Extensive Narrative Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Protein intake in children and growth and risk of overweight or obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Food & nutrition research · 2022Review
- The Different Effects of Skeletal Muscle and Fat Mass on Height Increment in Children and Adolescents Aged 6-11 Years: A Cohort Study From China.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Article
- Using Body Composition Groups to Identify Children and Adolescents at Risk of Dyslipidemia.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- The association between Healthy Beverage Index and anthropometric measures among children: a cross-sectional study.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2021Article
- Effects of Complementary Feeding With Different Protein-Rich Foods on Infant Growth and Gut Health: Study Protocol.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2021Article
- Evaluating the pathways linking complementary feeding practices to obesity in early life.Nutrition reviews · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPrevious studies suggest that high protein intake in infancy leads to a higher body mass index (BMI) in later childhood. We examined the associations of total, animal and vegetable protein intake in early childhood with detailed measures of body composition at the age of 6 years.
methodsThis study was performed in 2911 children participating in a population-based cohort study. Protein intake at the age of 1 year was assessed with a validated food-frequency questionnaire and was adjusted for total energy intake. At the children's age of 6 years, we measured their anthropometrics and body fat (with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry). We calculated age- and sex-specific s.d. scores for BMI, fat mass index (FMI) and fat-free mass index (FFMI).
resultsAfter adjustment for confounders, a 10 g per day higher total protein intake at 1 year of age was associated with a 0.05 s.d. (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.00, 0.09) higher BMI at age 6. This association was fully driven by a higher FMI (0.06 s.d. (95%CI 0.01, 0.11)) and not FFMI (-0.01 s.d. (95%CI -0.06, 0.05)). The associations of protein intake with FMI at 6 years remained significant after adjustment for BMI at the age of 1 year. Additional analyses showed that the associations of protein intake with FMI were stronger in girls than in boys (P for interaction=0.03), stronger among children who had catch-up growth in the first year of life (P for interaction<0.01) and stronger for intake of animal protein (both dairy and non-dairy protein) than protein from vegetable sources.
conclusionsOur results suggest that high protein intake in early childhood is associated with higher body fat mass, but not fat-free mass. Future studies are needed to investigate whether these changes persist into adulthood and to examine the optimal range of protein intake for infants and young children.
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