Dietary patterns in infancy and their associations with maternal socio‐economic and lifestyle factors among 758 Japanese mother–child pairs: the Osaka Maternal and Child Health Study

Dietary habits established in early childhood contribute to lifelong dietary pattern and the development of early risk factors for disease in adulthood. Although a large body of epidemiologic data from Western countries show that the dietary pattern of children is influenced by maternal socio‐economic and lifestyle characteristics, information on this topic in non‐Western countries is absolutely lacking. The present study identified dietary patterns among infants aged 16–24 months, and then examined the influence of maternal socio‐economic and lifestyle characteristics on identified dietary patterns. Subjects were 758 Japanese mother–child pairs. Dietary data of infants were collected from the mothers using a questionnaire. Dietary patterns were extracted from the consumption of 15 foods (times week −1 ) by cluster analysis. The following two dietary patterns were identified: ‘fruits, vegetables and high‐protein foods’ ( n  = 483) and ‘confectionaries and sweetened beverages’ ( n  = 275) patterns. After adjustment for all other predictors, maternal educational level, number of infants' siblings and maternal dietary patterns were independently associated with dietary patterns of infants. Infants whose mothers had a higher educational level and the ‘rice, fish and vegetables’ dietary pattern were less likely to belong to the ‘confectionaries and sweetened beverages’ pattern, whereas infants whose mothers had a higher number of children and the ‘wheat product’ dietary pattern were more likely to belong to the ‘confectionaries and sweetened beverages’ than the ‘fruits, vegetables and high‐protein foods’ pattern. In conclusion, the mother's socio‐economic position and dietary patterns were associated with the dietary patterns of infants in the Japanese pairs as observed in the Western populations.