The relationship between maternal prenatal and postnatal vegetable intake and repeated measures of infant vegetable intake frequency in a national U. S. sample

Experimental research suggests that passive flavor transfer from maternal diet to the infant via amniotic fluid and breastmilk may improve infant vegetable intake. This secondary analysis examined associations between maternal (prenatal and postnatal) and infant vegetable intake in 696 mothers with eligible dietary data from the U.S. longitudinal Infant Feeding Practices Study II. Adjusted mixed models examined associations between 4 levels of maternal vegetable intake (mean splits of high/low on prenatal and postnatal food frequency questionnaires) and repeated measures of infant vegetable intake frequency (times/day, from monthly surveys). Mothers were on average 29.5 years old, mostly non-Hispanic White (86.2%) and educated (84.0% >= some college). In base models, mothers with consistently high vegetable intake (vs. consistently low) reported more frequent infant vegetable intake. In multivariable models, infant vegetable intake was significantly more frequent amongst mothers with consistently high prenatal/high postnatal intake (0.9 times/day) versus consistently low intake (0.8 times/day). In this sample, maternal vegetable consumption was associated with frequency of infant vegetable consumption; consistently high vegetable intake across prenatal and postnatal periods was most strongly associated with infant intake. While infant vegetable intake is multifactorial, maternal prenatal and postnatal vegetable intake appeared to have a small but significant influence.