Infant feeding in the Philippines: A cluster analysis approach

Lack of detailed infant dietary data, nutrient data bases and food pattern methodologies to describe complexities of the total diet has resulted in inadequate information on infant‐feeding patterns in low‐income countries. Customarily, infant diets have been reported in relation to nutrients or types of foods consumed (for example, fed breast milk or breast‐milk substitutes). This paper uses cluster analysis to differentiate feeding patterns for 3,080 infants in Cebu, Philippines, obtained from detailed dietary data collected at 6 and 12 months of age. Using a nutrient data base of processed and local foods commonly fed to infants, infant foods were classified into 19 groups subdivided by calorie and protein densities. Cluster analysis differentiated urban and rural infants by their feeding patterns, and generated several groups with noteworthy differences in consumption of key food groups, nutrient levels and socioeconomic status. Results of this analysis provide convincing evidence of the potential value of this approach in examining overall infant food consumption patterns.

Key words:

• infant feeding
• cluster analysis
• nutrient intakes
• socioeconomic factors
• urban‐rural residence
• Philippines