The Role of Consumers

It is particularly important that in areas of strategic public health significance, e.g. infant feeding, the processes used to extract robust scientific findings are timely, rigorous and transparent. Low rates of breastfeeding, poor weaning practices and variability within and between countries have been reported by many authors and resulted in a call for more consistency of recommendations across regions. The adoption of consumer behaviors in line with recommendations is of course not guaranteed. The consumers in this instance are both the infant and their mother or other carers. As infants completely depend on their carers to make food choices for them, it is important that they understand nutrition, and the importance of food choices for health of the baby and in future life. Parents obtain information from a variety of sources, the quality of which may vary, and is not necessarily evidence-based. Although carers decide what is offered or withheld, the infant may contribute to this decision by expressing dissatisfaction or refusing food. At the heart of all feeding choices lies this interplay between carer and child, influenced by the environment at household, community and societal level.