Are dietary patterns in early childhood associated with alcohol consumption at the age of 17 years? Analysis of data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) prospective cohort study.

Objective: To examine the relationship between a posteriori dietary patterns in early childhood and alcohol consumption in adolescence.

Design: Data were obtained from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) prospective cohort study. Dietary information was obtained using FFQ at the age of 3 and 7 years. The association between dietary patterns, derived using principal components analysis and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores (to assess harmful intake) and frequency of alcohol consumption at the age of 17 years were examined. Secondary analysis considered sugar intake as a percentage of total energy intake.

Setting: Women who gave birth between 1 April 1991 and 31 December 1992 in the Avon area in southwest England were eligible for the ALSPAC cohort study.

Participants: Totally, 14 541 pregnancies were enrolled in ALSPAC during its initial recruitment phase. For this analysis, complete data were available for between 3148 and 3520 participants.

Results: Adherence to the 'healthy' dietary pattern at both 3 and 7 years of age was positively associated with consuming more than one alcoholic drink per week at 17 years of age, whilst adherence to the 'traditional' dietary pattern at both ages was protective of harmful alcohol intake at 17 years of age. Sugar intake was not associated with either alcohol outcome after adjustment for ethnicity, maternal level of education, parental social class and maternal AUDIT score.

Conclusions: For the population studied, changes to diet in early childhood are unlikely to have an impact on harmful alcohol use in adolescence given the lack of consistency across the results.