Can infant feeding choices modulate later obesity risk?
Since the concept of lasting programming effects on disease risk in human adults by the action of hormones, metabolites, and neurotransmitters during sensitive periods of early development was proposed >3 decades ago, ample supporting evidence has evolved from epidemiologic and experimental studies and clinical trials. For example, numerous studies have reported programming effects of infant feeding choices on later obesity. Three meta-analyses of observational studies found that obesity risk at school age was reduced by 15-25% with early breastfeeding compared with formula feeding. We proposed that breastfeeding protects against later obesity by reducing the occurrence of high weight gain in infancy and that one causative factor is the lower protein content of human milk compared with most infant formula (the early protein hypothesis). We are testing this hypothesis in the European Childhood Obesity Project, a double-blind, randomized clinical trial that includes >1000 infants in 5 co
