Infants' and young children's diet

Early childhood is characterized by very rapid growth with high nutritional requirements. The first years of a person's life is also a period where the greatest changes in dietary intake occur – from a milk-based diet in the infant to the child eating what the rest of the family eats.

This period has long been considered as a sensitive period where there is a risk of an insufficient intake of energy and nutrients such as iron and vitamin D. For this reason it is recommended that infants have an iron-rich diet as well as vitamin D supplements to avoid becoming deficient in these nutrients.

The National Food Institute is behind the two major national dietary surveys of infants’ and young children’s eating habits in Denmark. The survey looks at children from six months to three years. Dietary habits among children aged four and up are examined as part of the national diet survey of Danish national survey of diet and physical activity, DANSDA.

The objectives behind studying the dietary habits of infants and young children are to:

• Assess whether young children’s diet lives up to official recommendations
• Assess risks associated with undesirable chemicals in food
• Improve and target advice for health professionals and parents of young children.

Healthy dietary habits in childhood appear to have a significant impact on healthy dietary habits and a decreased risk of lifestyle diseases later in life. By looking at what factors are important for a healthy diet and what the major challenges are, the dietary survey of infants and young children will be able to contribute knowledge, which can help tailor nutritional information aimed at parents and childcare providers. The survey will also be able to form the basis for interventions with a focus on the settings around the meal, preventing fussy eaters, increasing acceptance of different foods and decreasing the sugar intake among young children.

The first survey of infants and young children diet 2006-2007

The first survey of what Danish infants and young children eat and drink was conducted in 2006-2007 and was the first national dietary survey among this age group.

The survey was conducted as a parallel to the national survey of DANSDA 2005-2008, which contains a treasure trove of data for use in many different analyzes.

Read more about the 2006-2007 survey.

Dietary survey of infants and young children 2014-2015

In 2014-2015 a new dietary survey of infants and young children was conducted, which also includes blood tests to measure vitamin D and iron status among the one and two-year-olds. This provides the researchers with a unique opportunity to compare the children’s actual status with their current dietary intake and intake of supplements in order to assess whether the current recommendations relating to supplements for infants counteracts deficiencies later in early childhood.

It is the first time iron and vitamin D status has been measured in a large representative study among one- and two-year children in Denmark and then related to dietary intake and supplements. This provides a solid basis for any revisions of the recommendations.

By continuously looking at infants’ and young children’s dietary intake it is possible to: 

• document how diets develop over time
• assess the impact of nutrition education initiatives.

The dietary survey 2014-15 will examine whether dietary habits have changes since the first survey was carried out in 2006-07. Among other things it will be possible to see if the intake of fruit and vegetables has increased with the increased focus among child care providers, whether sugar intake – fx from sugary drinks among two-year-olds – has decreased and whether the media debate on milk for small children has had an impact on how much milk children are given.