Mothers' nutrition
pivotal for healthy child growth: study
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[November 02, 2016]
By Umberto Bacchi
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) -
Improving mothers' nutrition before and during pregnancy is pivotal to
reducing child stunting in developing countries, researchers said on
Tuesday, as a new study showed poor child growth often starts in the
womb.
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Defined as low height-for-age, stunting affects one in three
children in the developing world and carries severe, irreversible
consequences for both physical health and cognitive function.
An analysis of data from 137 developing nations by a team of Harvard
scientists found the leading cause of stunting is fetal growth
restriction (FGR) - poor fetal growth in the womb resulting in a
baby being abnormally small at birth.
Almost a quarter of a total of 44.1 million estimated cases among
two-year-olds in 2010 were attributable to FGR, according to the
study published on Tuesday.
Researchers said the findings called for "paradigm shift" from
interventions focused solely on children to those also targeting
mothers and mothers-to-be.
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"It highlights the importance of developing a comprehensive
intervention program to target moms and their families even they get
pregnant in order to help their children's growth in the future,"
study co-author Kathryn Andrews told the Thomson Reuters Foundation
in a phone interview.
Greater emphasis should be placed on ensuring that mothers have
enough to eat and improving their diet with nutrient supplements,
Andrews said.
FGR was already known to be one of numerous causes of stunting but
the study was the first to rank each cause's relative contribution
to the total number of cases, the authors said.
Poor sanitation and childhood diarrhea had the second and third
largest impact after FGR, counting for 16.4 and 13.2 percent of
cases respectively, according to the research, funded by the
Canadian government through Grand Challenges Canada's "Saving
Brains" program.
Other causes include infections, poor child nutrition and
discontinued breastfeeding.
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Last year the United Nations adopted an ambitious set of global
development goals to end hunger and poverty by 2030.
Stunting affect both areas, as children who have poor growth in
their first years of life tend to perform worse at school, which
usually leads to poorer earning power later on.
"Knowing the major risk factors for stunting, the global cost of
poor child growth, and the number of children missing developmental
milestones are key pieces of information in ensuring children not
only survive, but thrive," said Grand Challenges Canada's CEO, Peter
Singer.
(Reporting by Umberto Bacchi @UmbertoBacchi, Editing by Ros Russell;
Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of
Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights,
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