Early Origins of Overeating: Tracking Between Early Food Habits and Later Eating Patterns

This review considers papers published in the last decade in relation to tracking between early food habits (here, habits acquired before 10 years) and later eating patterns. This review analyzes first how later eating patterns may be associated with the mode of milk feeding (formula vs. breast feeding; type of formula) and with the way complementary feeding is conducted (timing and type/variety of foods offered). Beyond the first year, this review focuses on the tracking of food preferences, food variety, portion size, dietary intake and eating traits. Most studies revealed moderate but significant associations between mode of milk feeding and complementary feeding practices and later eating patterns. When the baseline period is beyond 1 year, a moderate level of tracking is also observed for most eating behaviors reported (food preferences; food variety; dietary intake; eating traits), revealing a consistency over time in eating behavior; however eating behavior is likely to evolve when children grow older.