"from baby's first bite"

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/obesity-a-threat-from-babys-first-bite/story-e6frg6n6-1226529240228

Obesity a threat from baby's first bite

• BY:SUE DUNLEVY 
• From:News Limited Network 
• December 04, 2012 12:00AM

BABY'S first solid food should be mashed vegetables and not the traditional rice cereal, a national obesity conference has been told.

The first three years of a child's life is crucial in determining whether they will develop eating habits that lead to obesity, endocrinologist and Obesity Australia chief Professor John Funder says.

Experts say that starting a child off on a diet of rice cereal is like to giving them "an oral glucose tolerance test", Professor Funder told News Limited. The best foods for a baby are mashed vegetables and mashed protein like liver pate, he says.

Even feeding a baby too much mashed fruit, which is high in carbohydrates, could be bad, he says.