Infant feeding practices, childhood growth and obesity in adult life.

Child health is widely affected by nutritional status, and there is growing interest surrounding the possibility that child nutritional status and infant feeding practices may be linked to obesity in adulthood, increasing risks of metabolic complications. Prospective studies enable appropriate investigation and evaluation of the determinants of childhood development. The present paper therefore aimed to provide a review of the main evidence to date from longitudinal studies concerning the associations of infant feeding practices, patterns of childhood growth and nutritional status exhibited in adult life.