Are Household Expenditures on Food Groups Associated with Children's Future Heights in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam?

Dietary diversity, food insecurity and the double burden of malnutrition among children, adolescents and adults in South Africa: Findings from a national survey

Childhood stunting remains a global public health problem. Many stunted children live in the same household as overweight or obese adults (the so-called double burden of malnutrition), evidence that quality as well as quantity of food is important. In recent years, food security measurement has shifted away from anthropometry (e.g., stunting) to experiential measures (e.g., self-reported hunger). However, given the continued problem of stunting, it is important that national surveys identify malnutrition.

Objectives

To examine the associations between a variety of food security indicators, including dietary diversity, with adult, child (0-4 years) (5-9 years) and adolescent (10-17 years) anthropometry. To estimate the prevalence of double burden households.

Methods

The study utilized cross-sectional data from the South African National Income Dynamics Survey NIDS (2008). We examined the associations between five food security indicators and anthropometry outcomes. The indicators were adult and child hunger in the household, self-reported household food sufficiency, food expenditure>60% of monthly expenditure and household dietary diversity. Multinomial and logistic regression models were employed to examine the associations with adult BMI categories and children's stunting and BMI.

Results

The prevalence of stunting was 18.4% and the prevalence of wasting and overweight was 6.8 and 10.4%, respectively. Children <5 and adolescents with medium dietary diversity were significantly more likely to be stunted than children with high dietary diversity. Among children <5, child hunger and medium dietary diversity were significantly associated with wasting. None of the food security indicators were associated with stunting in children aged 5-9. Among stunted children, 70.2% lived with an overweight or obese adult. Among adults, increased dietary diversity increased the risk of overweight and obesity.

Conclusion

Dietary diversity can be used as a proxy for poor nutritional status among children <5 years and adolescents but the relationship between dietary diversity and adult obesity is more complex. Given the double burden of malnutrition in many low- and middle-income countries, indicators of dietary quality remain important. These tools can be further refined to include an extra category for processed foods. Given the relative simplicity to collect this data, national surveys would be improved by its inclusion.

Modeling the potential impacts of improved monthly income on child stunting in India: a subnational geospatial perspective

OBJECTIVES

Approximately one-third of the world's stunted (low height-for-age) preschool-aged children live in India. The success of interventions designed to tackle stunting appears to vary by location and depth of poverty. We developed small-area estimation models to assess the potential impact of increments in household income on stunting across the country.

DESIGN

Two nationally representative cross-sectional datasets were used: India's National Family Health Survey 4 (2015-2016) and the 68th round of the National Sample Survey on consumer expenditure. The two datasets were combined with statistical matching. Gaussian process regressions were used to perform geospatial modelling of 'stunting' controlling for household wealth and other covariates.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

The number of children in this sample totalled 259 627. Children with implausible height-for-age z-scores (HAZs) >5 or <-5, or missing data on drinking water, sanitation facility, mother's education, or geolocation and children not residing in mainland India were excluded, resulting in 207 695 observations for analysis.

RESULTS

A monthly transfer of ~$7 (500 Indian rupees) per capita to every household (not targeted or conditional) was estimated to reduce stunting nationally by 3.8 percentage points on average (95% credible interval: 0.14%-10%), but with substantial variation by state. Estimated reduction in stunting varied by wealth of households, with the poorest quintile being likely to benefit the most.

CONCLUSION

Improving household income, which can be supported through cash transfers, has the potential to significantly reduce stunting in parts of India where the burdens of both stunting and poverty are high. Modelling shows that for other regions, income transfers may raise incomes and contribute to improved nutrition, but there would be a need for complementary activities for alleviating stunting. While having value for the country as a whole, impact of income gained could be variable, and underlying drivers of stunting need to be tackled through supplementary interventions.