foodconsumer.org: Home-cooked foods mean leaner kids

Home-cooked foods mean leaner kids
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admin on 05/31/2009 14:55:00
 
Sunday May 31, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- Mothers who shun commercial baby food
jars are building stronger, healthier kids.
A British study has found that children who are fed home-cooked meals, rather
than the jarred versions, developed more muscle tissue at the age of four than
their counterparts.
The children were fed a diet high in fruit, vegetables, cooked meat and fish and
other home-cooked foods such as rice and pasta, but had a low consumption of
commercial baby foods, according to the Daily Mail.
Scientists from the University of Southampton assessed the diets of 536 children
at 6 months and again at 12 months of age. The specific types of foods were
recorded along with the age at which they were introduced.
“Children with higher quality weaning diets including fruits, vegetables and
home-prepared foods had a greater lean mass at four years of age,” said lead
author Dr. Sian Robinson.
Researchers also found that longer periods of breastfeeding led to lower fat
levels in children.
The children in the study came from a wide range of social backgrounds, said
scientists in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Body composition was assessed at four years of age using an X-ray technique
which showed relative amounts of lean as opposed to fat tissue.
“Most studies linking infant feeding to later body composition focus on
differences in milk feeding,” said Dr. Robinson, “but our study also
considered the influence of the weaning diet.”
(By Sheilah Downey, and edited by Heather Kelley)