The cost of baby-led vs. parent-led approaches to introducing complementary foods in New Zealand.

Baby-led approaches to complementary feeding promote intake of family foods rather than infant specific foods, from the start of the complementary feeding period, which advocates suggest should be less expensive. However, this has never been formally examined. We recently completed a 2-year randomised controlled trial comparing baby-led (BLISS) and traditional spoon-feeding (Control) approaches to complementary feeding in 206 infants. Perceived expense was assessed at infant 7, 8, 9 and 12 months of age. The actual cost of intake (food offered, consumed and left over) was calculated from 3-day weighed diet records at 7 and 12 months of age. BLISS was perceived as less expensive than traditional feeding (P = 0.002), but comparisons of actual costs showed only small differences in total daily cost for food offered (NZ$0.20 and NZ$0.10 at 7 and 12 months, respectively), consumed (NZ$0.30, NZ$0.20) or left over (NZ$0.10, NZ$0.20). Baby-led approaches are not cheaper for families than traditional spoon-feeding.

Validity and reproducibility of a computerised tool for assessing the iron, calcium and vitamin C intake of Belgian women.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relative validity of a newly developed iron intake assessment tool, designed specifically to assess iron, calcium and vitamin C intake. DESIGN: Estimates of iron, calcium and vitamin C intake from a computerised iron intake assessment tool compared with those from 11-day estimated dietary records. SETTING: Region of Ghent (N= +/- 225,000), a city in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. SUBJECTS: In all, 50 women aged 18-39 y, participating in a large-scale epidemiological study on iron intake and iron status. MAIN RESULTS: Mean dietary iron intake from the 11-day food record, the unadjusted dietary iron intake assessment tool and the adjusted tool was, respectively, 10.5 +/- 2.7, 10.4 +/- 4.3 and 9.6 +/- 2.9 mg. For the different nutrients, the correlation coefficients vary from 0.45 to 0.60 for adjusted intake. The mean difference of iron intake by the two methods (0.8 +/- 2.9 mg) did not differ significantly from zero. The new method correctly classified 38% (iron), 38% (calcium) and 58% (vitamin C) of the subjects to the correct tertile. The correlation coefficients ranged from 0.48 for adjusted vitamin C intake to 0.73 for adjusted calcium intake between two administrations. CONCLUSION: The newly developed instrument can be used to assess mean group intakes of iron, calcium and vitamin C in women consuming a Western diet. However, since the ranking capability of the new tool is rather weak, further refinement of the tool is required to produce a robust method for assessing iron, calcium and vitamin C intakes of individuals. SPONSORSHIP: This research was supported by the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research/Flemish Division (Fund No G.0152.01).

Risk of suboptimal iron and zinc nutriture among adolescent girls in Australia and New Zealand: causes, consequences, and solutions.

Surveys in Australia, New Zealand and other industrialised countries report that many adolescent girls have dietary intakes of iron and zinc that fail to meet their high physiological requirements for growing body tissues, expanding red cell mass, and onset of menarche. Such dietary inadequacies can be attributed to poor food selection patterns, and low energy intakes. Additional exacerbating non-dietary factors may include high menstrual losses, strenuous exercise, pregnancy, low socioeconomic status and ethnicity. These findings are cause for concern because iron and zinc play essential roles in numerous metabolic functions and are required for optimal growth, immune and cognitive function, work capacity, sexual maturation, and bone mineralization. Moreover, if adolescents enter pregnancy with a compromised iron and zinc status, and continue to receive intakes of iron and zinc that do not meet their increased needs, their poor iron and zinc status could adversely affect the pregnancy outcome. Clearly, intervention strategies may be needed to improve the iron and zinc status of high risk adolescent subgroups in Australia and New Zealand. The recommended treatment for iron deficiency anaemia and moderate zinc deficiency is supplementation. Although dietary intervention is often recommended for treating non-anaemic iron deficiency and mild zinc deficiency, it is probably more effective and appropriate for prevention than for the treatment of suboptimal iron and zinc status. Many of the strategies for enhancing the content and bioavailability of dietary iron are also appropriate for zinc.