Cure8 research brief
Parents and clinicians often worry that when solids are started might change a child’s future risk of IBD. This large prospective study found no clear link between timing or patterns of complementary feeding and later IBD, which may reassure families making feeding decisions.
Parents-caregivers; clinicians who counsel on infant feeding; researchers interested in microbiome and early-life IBD risk; adult patients curious about early-life risk factors.
This large prospective birth-cohort study (ABIS and MoBa cohorts) followed children from birth into adolescence/young adulthood to examine whether the age when complementary foods were introduced (<4, 4–5, or ≥6 months) or patterns of food introductions were associated with later inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Over more than 1.5 million person-years of follow-up, 400 participants developed IBD. The authors report no meaningful association between timing or pattern of complementary feeding and subsequent IBD risk, and results were consistent when looking separately at Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
The study used national patient registers for outcome ascertainment and adjusted for socio-demographic factors and parental IBD; additional sensitivity analyses included breastfeeding and perinatal factors. Because this is observational data from two large Nordic cohorts, it can identify associations but cannot prove cause and effect.
The study’s follow-up extends into young adulthood for many participants, but absolute numbers of IBD cases are relatively small compared with cohort size, which may limit detection of very small effects.
Observational cohort data can show associations but cannot prove causation. The study adjusted for many confounders and did sensitivity analyses, but results come from Swedish and Norwegian populations and may not generalize everywhere.
Review the original publication for the complete reporting, methods, and context.
This Cure8 brief is based on source text from the linked article. Cure8 is informational only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
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