nutrition throughout the life cycle

The Fourth Report on the World Nutrition Situation is part of a series of ACC/SCN reports initiated in the mid- 1980s on the nutritional status of populations in developing countries....This report is built around the theme 'nutrition throughout the life cycle'...This report highlights the size of the malnutrition problem and its consequences for human and economic development. It stresses the need to move ahead in creative partnerships. The Fourth Report provides evidence of contrasts — contrasts in the prevalence and trends of malnutrition, contrasts in actions taken, contrasts in progress made, and contrasts in the availability of data on the extent and causes of malnutrition." (Forward by Richard Jolly and Per Pinstrup-Andersen)PRIFPRI

Child Malnutrition and Mortality in Developing Countries: Evidence from a Cross-Country Analysis

In this paper we propose and test an interpretative framework on the social and economic determinants of child malnutrition and child mortality, two key human development indicators. The paper is organized as follows. Section 1 illustrates the main economic and social factors causing child malnutrition and mortality. Section 2 identifies the main clusters of food insecure and vulnerable households and briefly describes their livelihood profiles. Section 3 exposes our cross-country estimation methodology. Section 4 reports and discusses the results. Section 5 concludes

Linear Growth Retardation in Zanzibari School Children

This paper describes the longitudinal changes in height and weight of children in school grades 1-3 on Pemba Island, Zanzibar, a poor rural population in which parasitic infections and anemia are highly prevalent. Heights and weights of children were measured at base line, and 6 and 12 mo later, and were compared with U.S. reference data. At base line, the prevalence of height-for-age z-score \u3c -2 rose from 14% in 7-y-old children to 83% in 13-y-old children. Prevalence of weight-for-age Z-score \u3c -2 in children \u3c 10 y was ~10% or less. Median 6-mo height increments for Pembian boys were around the 5th percentile at age 8 and around the 10th percentile from age 9 to 13 y. Height increments for girls improved from below the 25th percentile to above the median in this age range. Based on the longitudinal yearly gains observed, boys accumulate a height deficit of 11.9 cm and girls 8.5 cm, relative to the reference population. In multivariate analyses, a small part of the variability in growth increments was explained by ascariasis and anemia (for weight gain) and schistosomiasis (for height gain). A review of other growth data from rural African Bantu populations provides supporting evidence that stunting occurs in older as well as younger children. It has been controversial whether school-based health and nutrition interventions could induce catch-up growth in already stunted children. Our results suggest that appropriate interventions might actually prevent stunting in late childhood

Concomitant supplemental vitamin A enhances the response to weekly supplemental iron and folic acid in anemic teenagers in urban Bangladesh

Background: Iron deficiency is the most common micronutrient deficiency and affects &gt;2 billion persons worldwide, leading to anemia in &gt;40% of women of reproductive age in the developing world. Objective: The objective was to determine whether weekly supplementation with iron and folate would reduce the frequency of anemia in teenage women in urban Bangladesh before they became pregnant. Design: Participants with a hemoglobin concentration of 80–120 g/L were entered into a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial and received supplements of placebo, vitamin A, iron + folic acid, or iron + folic acid + vitamin A weekly for 12 wk. The supplements contained 2.42 mg vitamin A (retinol) as retinyl palmitate, 120 mg elemental Fe as ferrous sulfate, and 3.5 mg folic acid. Results: Hemoglobin concentrations increased significantly more after supplementation with iron + folic acid or iron + folic acid + vitamin A than after either the placebo or vitamin A alone. There was a significantly greater increase in hemoglobin after iron + folic acid + vitamin A than after iron + folic acid, but the additional effect disappeared after adjustment for baseline hemoglobin, serum vitamin A, and ferritin and the number of supplements taken. Those with the lowest baseline hemoglobin had the greatest increase in hemoglobin. Compared with the placebo, iron + folic acid + vitamin A reduced anemia by 92%, iron deficiency by 90%, and vitamin A deficiency by 76%. Conclusion: There may be significant health benefits from a program that enhances the nutritional status of iron, folate, and vitamin A in poor urban young women before they become pregnant. <br/