Let's Talk About Nutrition

Nutrition and malnutrition are key factors in a child’s health and development. “It has long been recognized that the nutrition of the individual is perhaps the most ubiquitous factor affecting growth, health, and development” (Birch, 1972). Poor nutrition in an infant or young child can impair brain development, produce an ineffective immune system, and lead to a variety of diseases. “The worse disease directly caused by malnutrition is marasmus, where due to severe protein calorie malnutrition during early infancy growth stops, body tissues waste away and eventually the infant dies” (Berger, 2009,  p. 157). We hear this and imagine children starving in the Congo or other parts of Africa, and other underdeveloped countries, but the truth is lack of proper nutrition is a major problem here in the United States.

Look around and chances are you will see an overweight child. Childhood obesity in this country has reached epidemic proportions; capturing the attention of the First Lady and causing a big city mayor to want to outlaw supersized sugary drinks. Look again and you’ll see an overweight adult nearby. “Children’s food preferences and eating behaviors are influenced by the adults around them” (Robertson, 2010, p. 214). If we are going to improve the nutrition children receive we must first educate parents and adults. There are many websites devoted to providing important nutrition information. Two of my favorites are http://www.nutrition.gov/ and http://www.nutrition.gov/.  We must also make healthy food choices accessible and affordable for everyone. We know that in large part poor nutrition is attributed to poor socioeconomic conditions. You don’t see many organic farmers markets in poor inner city neighborhoods, but there is always a fast food place on the corner.

The whole idea of children being malnourished ties into my passion for leveling the playing field, so all children have the same opportunities – which makes the subject of nutrition of great interest to me. Not to mention, “there is increasing research that shows the relation of nutritional factors to intelligence and learning” (Birch, 1978). It is one of the factors for healthy development we can definitely control. We need people to advocate for better nutrition in schools, and use their clout as consumers to get the kinds of services they want and need in their community. People open up organic produce shops in upper middle class neighborhoods because they think they are the only one interested in eating right, and thus will buy their product.

Malnutrition remains a significant public health issue in many countries, even with the efforts of UNICEF (http://www.unicef.org/), the Red Cross (http://www.ifrc.org/), the World Food Programme (http://www.wfp.org/). While Guatemala remains the country with highest rate of malnutrition, the number of children in Pakistan suffering from malnutrition is on the rise due to floods and the ongoing conflict. UNICEF along with other humanitarian organizations has begun an initiative to help provide food to this region. You can read about this at http://www.unicef.org/media/media_65150.html.  

 

References:

Berger, K.S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5^th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishing.

Birch, H. G. (1972). Malnutrition, Learning, and Intelligence. American Journal Of Public Health, 62(6), 773-784.

Robertson, C. (2010). Safety, nutrition, and health in early education (4^th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworh Cengage Learning.