Concordance in dietary intake among caregivers and infants during the period of complementary feeding: A scoping review

Dietary intake during infancy shapes later food preferences and is important for short- and long-term health and wellbeing. Although caregivers are thought to influence the developing food preferences of infants, children less than two years have been notably absent in existing meta-analyses on the topic. This scoping review seeks to fill this gap by using a systematic process to identify and summarize the published literature on the resemblance of caregiver and infant diet during the period of complementary feeding (6–23 months). Articles were included if they assessed intake of foods or beverages other than human milk or commercial milk formula and reported a test of association between the intake of caregivers and infants. Four electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Global Health) were systematically searched for articles published since 2000. Thirty-three articles, representing 32 studies, were identified. The majority of studies examined infant intake of food groups/items (n = 20), seven studies examined infant dietary patterns, and six studies examined dietary diversity. Studies predominantly reported associations between diets of mothers and infants (n = 31); three studies reported associations for fathers. Most studies assessed infant diet at one timepoint (n = 26), with 12 studies combining the intakes of younger (0–11 months) and older infants (12–23 months). Food groups examined, in order of frequency, included ‘non-core’ foods and beverages (n = 14), vegetables (n = 13), fruits (n = 12), protein foods (n = 6), grains (n = 5), and dairy foods (n = 4). Definitions of variables for food groups and dietary patterns were highly heterogeneous, but consistent for dietary diversity. Nearly all studies (n = 31) reported significant associations between dietary intakes of caregivers and infants. Findings suggest caregiver diet may be a promising focus for interventions aiming to shape the food preferences and dietary intakes of infants.