4. Discussion
obesity, satiety
OBESITY
In a cohort of Australian children, we describe fibre intake and sources in early childhood. Our study is the first to identify fibre intake trajectories and their determinants in early childhood. Most children followed stable, rising trajectories of “Low”, “Moderate”, and “High” fibre intake from ages 9 to 60 months. Child sex, breastfeeding duration, and maternal education were the significant determinant of the “Low” fibre intake trajectory. However, no association was found between fibre intake trajectory groups and obesity outcomes.The fibre intake in this cohort was similar to those reported in other Australian studies [It is expected to observe an increase in fibre intake from ages 9 to 60 months given children transitions from a milk-based diet to a food-based diet. Our finding that children followed stable, rising trajectories of fibre intake in early childhood aligns with studies that revealed tracking of food preferences across life stages [Fibre intake may be beneficial for weight control due to its effect on satiety and the positive effect on microbiota [There are several strengths to our study. Our study is the first to report on fibre intake trajectories and predictors of fibre intake in young Australian children. We assessed diet with a 3-day, 24 h recall, which provides high-quality dietary intake data, although reporting bias cannot be dismissed. The longitudinal study design with repeated dietary measurements permitted the use of group-based trajectory modelling to identify heterogeneous fibre intake trajectory groups within the study sample without excluding people with missing data. Our study is not without weaknesses. Most mothers in our study had a university education, which limits the generalizability of our results to the general population of Australian children. We were not able to distinguish between different types of fibre (e.g., soluble vs. insoluble), which is of interest due to their different physicochemical properties. This will require food composition databases that distinguish between different types of fibre. It would have been desirable to adjust for maternal diet and fibre intake in our multivariable models; however, we did not have information on maternal diet.Adequate fibre intake among children is important for children’s development and for current and future health. Diet is a modifiable risk factor for adverse health outcomes. Our results suggest that fibre intake tracks over time; children with low, moderate, and high fibre intake at 9 months remained in their respective fibre intake group at 60 months. Results from our study have important implications for policy and practice. As a result of limited data in early childhood, current fibre recommendations provide AI only, which was based on the median observed intake in a healthy population [