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Aim: We previously reported that consuming milk cereal drinks at six months of age was associated with a high body mass index (BMI) at 12 and 18 months. This study examined the association between daily consumption at 12 months of age and BMI at the age of five.Methods: We followed up 1870/2666 (70%) children recruited at birth in 2007-2008 for the Swedish longitudinal population-based Halland Health and Growth Study a mean of 5.09 ± 0.28 years. Feeding practices were obtained from parental questionnaires, and anthropometric data were collected by child health nurses.Results: At five years, 11.6% were overweight and 2.3% were obese. Milk cereal drinks were consumed by about 85% and 10% at one and five years of age, respectively. Consumption at 12 months was associated with almost double the risk of being overweight at five years of age (adjusted odds ratio 1.94, 95% confidence interval 1.08-3.50). Other risk factors were a family history of obesity, low paternal educational level and paternal smoking.Conclusion: Consuming milk cereal drinks daily at 12 months was associated with a twofold risk of being overweight at five years. These findings may affect the counselling guidelines used at child healthcare centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of the present study was to examine body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) growth patterns from birth until five years regarding their ability to predict overweight or obesity in children at five years of age.Methods: Population-based longitudinal birth cohort study of 1540 children from the south-west region of Sweden, recruited at the first visit to the child health care centres in 2007-2008. The children were followed for five years and classified into two weight groups according to the 2012 International Obesity Task Force criteria. BMI and WHtR standard deviation scores (SDS) were analysed with Student's t-tests and multiple logistic regression models.Results: BMI-SDS and WHtR-SDS growth patterns were from an early age different in children with overweight or obesity, compared to in children with normal weight or underweight. Overweight or obesity was significantly predicted by BMI-SDS at 0-1 month (p < 0.001), ΔBMI-SDS between 0-1 and 12 months (p < 0.001) and between 18 and 48 months (p < 0.001), but not by WHtR-SDS, except for a negative association between 18 and 48 months in the boys (p = 0.040).Conclusion: Overweight or obesity at five years could be predicted by early BMI-SDS growth patterns, and WHtR-SDS did not add to the predictivity with regard to BMI-SDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]