Early life feeding and current dietary patterns are associated with biomarkers of glucose and lipid metabolism in young women from the Nutritionist’s Health Study

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 74; no. 3; pp. 509 - 517
• Main Authors: Eshriqui, Ilana, Folchetti, Luciana Dias, Valente, Angélica Marques Martins, de Almeida-Pititto, Bianca, Ferreira, Sandra Roberta G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.03.2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/443/319; 692/499; 692/53; Biomarkers; Breast feeding; Breastfeeding & lactation; Clinical Nutrition; Dextrose; Diet; Epidemiology; Factor analysis; Food and nutrition; Glucose; Glucose metabolism; Graduates; Graph theory; Health aspects; Health risks; High density lipoprotein; Insulin; Insulin resistance; Internal Medicine; Lipid metabolism; Lipids; Low density lipoprotein; Measurement; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Metabolism; Nutrition; Nutritionists; Observations; Physiological aspects; Public Health; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Resistance factors; Risk assessment; Young women; Brazil
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/s41430-019-0516-8

Background/objectives We investigated if breastfeeding duration and current dietary patterns (DP) were associated with glucose and lipid metabolism biomarkers in women from the Nutritionist’s Health Study. Subjects/methods This is a cross-sectional analysis of 200 healthy undergraduates and nutrition graduates aged ≤45 years. Total [<6; ≥6 months] and predominant [<3; ≥3 months] breastfeeding were recalled using questionnaires. Diet were assessed using a food frequency questionnaire. DP obtained by factor analysis by principal component were categorized into tertiles of adherence (T1 = reference). Glucose and lipid biomarkers were categorized into tertiles (T1 + T2 = reference). Logistic regression was applied considering minimal sufficient adjustment recommended by directed acyclic graphs. Results Median (interquartile range) age and BMI were 23.0 (20.0; 28.5) years and 22.6 (20.7; 25.4) kg/m 2 , respectively. Mean ± SD values of glucose, LDL-c and HDL-c were 82.0 ± 9.0, 101.1 ± 29.6 and 54.4 ± 12.4 mg/dL, respectively. Women breastfed for <6 months had higher chance of being classified into T3 of insulin (OR = 2.87; 95%CI = 1.28–6.40). Predominant breastfeeding < 3 months was associated with insulin levels (OR = 2.27; 95%CI = 1.02–5.02) and HOMA-IR (OR = 2.36; 95%CI = 1.06−5.26). Breastfeeding was not associated with lipids. The Processed pattern was directly associated with LDL-c (T3: OR 6.08; 95%CI 1.80–20.58; P -trend = 0.004), while the Prudent pattern was inversely associated with LDL-c (T3: OR 0.26; 95%CI 0.08–0.87; P- trend = 0.029) and LDL-c/HDL-c ratio (T3: OR 0.28; 95%CI 0.08–0.97; P -trend = 0.046). Conclusion Early feeding could be a protective factor against insulin resistance development, while current DP were associated with lipid profile. This evidence indicates that from early life until early adulthood, dietary habits might influence women’s cardiometabolic risk profile.