Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The aim of this systematic review is to assess the relationship between two complementary feeding features (diet quality and feeding approach) and some aspects of infant development (cognitive development, social cognition, and language).
RECENT FINDINGS: Recent reviews have explored many aspects of complementary feeding, such as the age at which first foods are introduced, child's micronutrient status, weight and health outcomes. However, there appears to be a knowledge gap in two areas that are potentially relevant for developing a healthy diet: the quality of the diet and the type of complementary feeding approach. Furthermore, reviews on complementary feeding tends to rely heavily on research from Western countries (also known as WEIRD countries), failing to provide a global perspective on infant development. Positive significant relationships were found between diet quality and (i) cognitive development (five studies), (ii) language development (six studies), (iii) social cognition (three studies), (iv) general development (six studies), and between approach and language development (two studies). Although a substantial number of findings suggest a significant relationship between diet quality and child development (20), some findings were non-significant (17), signaling that more research is needed in this field.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 104 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Current nutrition reports |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 30 Aug 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright © The Author(S) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Funding
Funded by the European Union - Next Generation EU, Mission 4 Component 1 CUP B53D23014810006 and B53D23014820006 (PRIN 2022 grant number 2022S8PEY7). Alice Di Prete was funded by a PHD fellowship from the European Union - Next Generation EU, Mission 4 Component 1 CUP B53C23002130006.
Keywords
- Weaning approach
- Complementary feeding
- Infant diet
- Baby-led weaning
- Infant development