To examine the pattern of intake of key foods and beverages of children aged 4–12 years and the association with weight status.

A computer-assisted telephone interview was used to determine the intake of fruit, vegetables, packaged snacks, fast foods and sweetened drinks ‘yesterday’ and ‘usually’ as reported by parents/guardians of a representative sample of 2184 children from the Barwon South-Western region of Victoria, Australia.

Children who consumed >2–3, >3–4 and >4 servings of fruit juice/drinks ‘yesterday’ were, respectively, 1.7 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2–2.2), 1.7 (95% CI 1.2–2.5) and 2.1 (95% CI 1.5–2.9) times more likely to be overweight/obese compared with those who had no servings of fruit juice/drink ‘yesterday’, adjusted for age, gender and socio-economic status (SES). Further, children who had ≥ 3 servings of soft drink ‘yesterday’ were 2.2 (95% CI 1.3–3.9) times more likely to be overweight/obese compared with those who had no servings of soft drink ‘yesterday’, adjusted for age, gender and SES. In addition, children who ‘usually’ drank fruit juice/drinks twice or more per day were 1.7 (95% CI 1.2–2.4) times more likely to be overweight/obese compared with those who drank these beverages once or less per week, adjusted for age, gender and SES. Although fast foods and packaged snacks were regularly eaten, there were no associations between weight status and consumption of these foods.

Intake of sweetened beverages was associated with overweight and obesity in this population of Australian schoolchildren and should be a target for intervention programmes aimed at preventing unhealthy weight gain in children.

To analyse factors associated with breast-feeding and use of sweetened drinks at 12 months, and to compare dietary habits among breast-fed and non-breast-fed infants.

Data were collected by a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire filled in by the parents.

National dietary survey in Norway.

In total, 1932 12-month-old infants were included.

At 12 months, 36% of the infants were breast-fed. The odds of breast-feeding at this age were more than doubled both for mothers ≥35 years compared with mothers <25 years and for mothers in the highest educational group compared with mothers in the lowest. A negative association was found for maternal smoking, and the odds of breast-feeding were 40% lower for mothers who smoked than for non-smokers. Some dietary differences were observed between breast-fed and non-breast-fed infants apart from intake of milk. In particular, breast-fed infants had a significantly lower daily intake of sweetened drinks than non-breast-fed infants and a 16% lower mean daily intake of added sugars (P < 0.001). Furthermore, breast-fed infants had 30% higher odds of not receiving sweetened drinks daily, compared with non-breast-fed infants.

Maternal age, education and smoking status were important factors for breast-feeding at 12 months. Breast-fed infants had lower intakes of sweetened drinks and added sugars than non-breast-fed infants. From a public health perspective, continued promotion of breast-feeding is needed to reduce inequalities in breast-feeding. Moreover, prevention of high intakes of sweetened drinks and added sugars should start in infancy.