Anthocyanins in the diet of infants and toddlers: intake, sources and trends

Anthocyanins, a colourful group of flavonoids in many fruits and vegetables, are proposed to provide positive impact on human health. However, intake estimations have almost exclusively been conducted in adult populations. As infants and toddlers are a promising age group for health promotion, we examined their anthocyanin intake (as anthocyanidins), food sources and trends of age and time in anthocyanidin density.

Anthocyanidin content values from the USDA Database were assigned to foods consumed in 4,617 3-day weighed dietary records from 1990 to 2009 by 942 3-36-month-old subjects of the DONALD Study. As we assume that anthocyanidins found in bananas do not originate from anthocyanins, the anthocyanidin value for bananas was excluded from our analysis. To investigate age and time trends in anthocyanidin density, polynomial mixed regression models were used.

Median anthocyanidin intake was zero in young infants and around 4 mg/day in older infants and toddlers, strawberries and pomaceous fruit representing the main sources. Anthocyanidin density increased from 6 to 18 months of age, followed by a slight decrease till 36 months of age. During the 20-year study period, a decrease in density in infants was observed, but a slight increase in toddlers.

Anthocyanidin density in the diet seems to increase notably from infancy to toddlerhood and to have decreased in the youngest over the last 20 years. These first observations in a German population of infants and toddlers need to be extended by further studies examining anthocyanin intake in these age groups in other countries.