Feeding Homemade Sugar Sweetened Beverages in Addition to Breastfeeding: Survey Results from Caregivers of Infants and Young Children in Peri-Urban Lima, Peru.

Objectives: Consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) is associated with childhood obesity and other negative health conditions. Feeding SSB to infants and young children (IYC) under 2 years may displace consumption of breastmilk and nutrient rich foods critical for optimal growth and development. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends avoiding added sugar (e.g. SSB) for IYC under 2 years. We sought to describe the variety of homemade and commercial SSB as well as breastmilk and beverages without added sugar fed to IYC aged 4–23 months living in a low-income, populous peri-urban area of Lima, Peru. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 181 households with IYC aged 4–23 months. A list of common local homemade and commercial beverages was used to investigate what caregivers had fed to the child in the past 24 h. Results: A total of 93.9% of caregivers reported feeding at least one beverage to their child other than breastmilk in the past 24 h. This included a variety of homemade SSB (73.5%), commercial SSB (18.2%) and homemade beverages without added sugar (70.2%). A high percentage (83.4%) of children were also breastfed. Conclusions for Practice: Our findings suggest that interventions to address feeding homemade SSB to IYC within households are needed to support WHO recommendations and complement current commercial SSB policy regulations in Peru. Significance: What is already known on this subject? sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) are widely available, nutrient-poor and contribute to childhood obesity and other negative health outcomes. Little is known about homemade SSB fed to IYC under 2 years in Peru. What this study adds? in peri-urban Peru, prevalent feeding practices include breastfeeding as well as giving a variety of homemade SSB to IYC. In addition to recent policy level interventions aimed at reducing consumption of commercial SSB in Peru and Latin America generally, household level interventions to address feeding homemade SSB to IYC are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]