Background: Knowledge of the nutritional consumption of very young children is of main interest, but little is known about the dietary status of French infants and toddlers.
Objective: To assess energy and nutrient intake and the adequacy of diet of French infants and toddlers.
Design and setting: A national cross-sectional survey was conducted in France from January to March 2005, using proportionate quota sampling based on the age of the children, the occupation of the mother, and the family socioeconomic category.
Subjects: Seven-hundred and six children were allocated to 11 age subgroups ranging from one to three months to 31-36 months. Totally or partially breastfed infants were excluded. ANALYSES PERFORMED: Individual consecutive 3-day weight food records were converted into energy intake and intake of 24 nutrients according to food composition databases recently updated for 1260 standard foods and all the formulae and specific baby foods manufactured and marketed in France in 2005.
Results: Mean daily energy intake in 2005 was above the estimated average requirement up to seven months of age, but was lower after one year. Protein, fat, and carbohydrate intakes were adequate, while calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and B group vitamins were above the recommended dietary allowances for all 11 subgroups. However, for toddlers over 12 months of age, some may have had an inadequate intake of alpha-linolenic acid, vitamin E, vitamin C, iron and zinc, whereas mean sodium intake was above the adequate intake for all age subgroups.
Conclusions: The diet of French infants was adequate for a large proportion of children and satisfied most of their nutritional requirements. However, the intake of iron and alpha-linolenic acid in particular needs to be improved for some French toddlers.