Navigating child nutrition: Unveiling causes, challenges, and remedies

Unveiling causes, challenges, and remedies

The landscape of child nutrition has changed significantly with stunting and child mortality reducing in many parts of the world. Despite this improvement in child nutrition, child obesity and the number of overweight children continue to escalate. This article details the complexity of child nutrition, exploring the causes, underlying factors and strategies for overcoming these challenges.

Advancements in child nutrition and continuous challenges

Childhood mortality in under 5’s has dropped in the last 20 decades to a global average of 4%. The ESAR region in comparison has a higher rate at 7.4%.¹Despite the decrease in child mortality rates, child nutrition disorders remain a challenge in ESAR. Contributing factors to child nutrition disorders are caused by numerous factors, some of which include the nature of diets, socio-economic factors, climate change and food security.

The triple burden of malnutrition

While worldwide stunting rates have decreased by 39.7% to 26.7%, the number of children with micronutrient deficiencies remains high in some parts of the world. The triple burden of malnutrition >— undernutrition, hidden hunger and being overweight are persistent threats for children under the age of 5.³ Studies conducted by UNICEF in 2019 found that an estimated 149 million children are stunted, 50 million children are wasted and 1 in 2 children do not get adequate access to vitamins and nutrients. Additionally, 40 million children are obese. Obesity in children has been on the rise over the past 50 years. It is estimated that it may soon be more prevalent than undernutrition.³The co-existence of under-and over- nutrition in children under 5 has been noted in children living in vulnerable countries or vulnerable communities within a country.²

Unbalanced diets and nutritional status

The increasing availability of prepacked and frozen foods has contributed to the proliferation of unbalanced diets. It is estimated that 48% of the global population eats too many or too few calories.²The Global Nutrition Report in 2021 indicates that diets are far from being healthy and have not improved over the last decade. Assessing diets based on WHO-UNICEF guidelines, fruit and vegetable intake is still about 50% below the recommended 5 servings per day. In addition, legume and nut intakes are more than two-thirds below the recommended two servings per day. In contrast to this, red and processed meat intake is on the rise, close to 5 times higher than the recommended serving (1 serving per week). Similarly, the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages is increasing globally.⁴ In relation to the diets of children under 5, it has been found that close to 45% of children between 6 months and 2 years are not fed any fruits or vegetables. In addition, around 60% of the children in the same age bracket did not consume any eggs, dairy, fish or meat.⁴

Long-term effects on health

The long-term health and development of children is profoundly influenced by childhood nutrition. Malnutrition — both undernutrition and overnutrition — bears immediate health consequences.⁵ However, these consequences are felt in adulthood through the prevalence of non-communicable diseases such as type two diabetes. This places an emphasis on the importance of holistic development in the early years.²

Physical activity and nutritional balance

Frequent physical activity during the growing years increases the likelihood of a healthy pattern of physical maturation consistent with the genetic potential of an individual child.⁵ Physical activity is beneficial at all stages of the formative years. Active play is important in physical, mental and social aspects of growth and development, helping to set a pattern of participation in physical activity across an individual’s lifespan. The changing nature of school-ground facilities has resulted in the reduction or removal of physical activities from our contemporary lifestyle. This contributes to the childhood obesity epidemic.⁵

Factors shaping nutritional and dietary patterns

The food choices and feeding habits of parents and carers determine nutritional outcomes in children. These behaviours are affected by several outside factors that shape these actions, such as social strata. In addition to these factors, the availability and intake of a balanced diet and adequate nutrients is reliant on food security, access and affordability of foods sufficient to fulfil a balanced diet.

The impact of climate change

Climate change has had a significant impact on food security due to the rise in crop failures, reduced food production and extreme weather events. The effects of climate change have seen a rise in food scarcity.²

Collective endevours and resolutions

In response to the child nutrition crisis, many organisations and countries are committed to reducing the crisis. Some of the measures include the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Plan for 2030, which was made in 2015.⁶This Plan involves eradicating world hunger by improving food security, helping people improve their diets and minimising poverty. Subsequently, some improvements have been made, this is evidenced by the decrease in child stunting from 24.4% to 22.0% between 2015 and 2020. Even with these attempts and slight improvement, bad dietary choices remain a cause for concern. There has been a rise in the intake of red meat and sweetened beverages. The high intake of these foods has an impact on the development of under-5s as it puts children at risk of being overweight and obese.³The diets of children under 5 should be better regulated to ensure that they are provided with adequate nutrients and physical activity should be encouraged.³

Continuous challenges and collaborative solutions

The high prevalence of obesity and overweight in children under 5 remains despite a decline in instances of stunting and wasting.³ Insufficient access to a good diet in children under 5 can result in lifelong health implications that may affect a person’s longevity. In efforts to eradicate the issues around child nutrition, UNICEF has proposed that parents, families, the private sector, businesses, and governments band together to end the triple burden of malnutrition. Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director, sums up the urgency of this matter quite accurately. “We are losing ground in the fight for healthy diets,” said Fore. “This is not a battle we can win on our own. We need governments, the private sector and civil society to prioritise child nutrition and work together to address the causes of unhealthy eating in all its forms.”³

Conclusion

A dynamic interplay of dietary choice, physical activity, external dynamics and global challenges is revealed by the intricate fabric of child nutrition. As childhood obesity's prevalence clashes with progress in child mortality rates, the clarion call for collaborative action reverberates louder than ever. A healthy future for children all over the world can be achieved through concerted global efforts.³

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