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Infant Feeding and Timing of Complementary Foods in the Development of Type 1 Diabetes

  • Lifestyle Management to Reduce Diabetes/Cardiovascular Risk (E Mayer-Davis and C Shay, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease that results from the destruction of the β cells of the pancreas in genetically at-risk individuals. The autoimmune process that precedes the development of T1D is believed to be triggered by environmental factors, including nutrition. Early introduction of complementary foods has been implicated in the etiology of T1D as a possible explanation of the increasing incidence of the disease, particularly in children younger than 5 years of age. Infant feeding recommendations have been designed to promote adequate growth, provide essential nutrients, and reduce the risk of developing chronic illnesses. The World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend exclusive breastfeeding to 6 months of age followed by continued breastfeeding as complementary foods are introduced. A lack of compliance with these recommendations has been observed in the general population as well as in infants at high risk for T1D. Dietary factors such as the provision of breast milk and duration of breastfeeding, the age at introduction of cow’s milk and gluten-containing foods, as well as other complementary feeding have been investigated. However, the evidence that early infant feeding patterns are linked with T1D currently remains inconclusive.

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Conflict of Interest

Anita M. Nucci, Suvi M. Virtanen, and Dorothy J. Becker declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 3995, Atlanta, GA, 30303-3995, USA

    Anita M. Nucci

  2. Nutrition Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    Suvi M. Virtanen

  3. School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

    Suvi M. Virtanen

  4. Center for Child Health Research, University of Tampere and Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland

    Suvi M. Virtanen

  5. The Science Center of Pirkanmaa Hospital District, Tampere, Finland

    Suvi M. Virtanen

  6. Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, University of Pittsburgh and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, 4401 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15224, USA

    Dorothy J. Becker

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  1. Anita M. Nucci
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  2. Suvi M. Virtanen
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  3. Dorothy J. Becker
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Correspondence to Dorothy J. Becker.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Lifestyle Management to Reduce Diabetes/Cardiovascular Risk

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Nucci, A.M., Virtanen, S.M. & Becker, D.J. Infant Feeding and Timing of Complementary Foods in the Development of Type 1 Diabetes. Curr Diab Rep 15, 62 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-015-0628-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-015-0628-z

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