UNICEF-CTARA Fellowship in Child Nutrition, IIT Bombay, Bombay, India.
Environmental Health Sciences Laboratory, Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
Nutrition. 2021 Nov-Dec;91-92:111446. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2021.111446. Epub 2021 Aug 9.
In India, although nutritional conditions have improved, a high prevalence of anthropometric failure is still reported in children. Unfortunately, there are knowledge gaps surrounding nutrient and anthropometric shortcomings as well as dietary patterns. More than half of children are consuming a vegetarian diet. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary adequacy levels on anthropometric failure in 5772 vegetarian children (ages 6-23 mo) satisfying minimum dietary diversity.
Data were collected from the National Family Health Survey 2015-16. We created three food combinations: maximum adequacy (dairy and four food groups), medium adequacy (dairy and three food groups), and minimum adequacy (four food groups excluding dairy). We calculated odds ratios (ORs) for the association between dietary adequacy levels and anthropometric failures with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using logistic regression models. The modification effect of breastfeeding status was also explored.
Approximately 35% of children had stunted growth. ORs showed a significant increase in the risk of anthropometric failure, notably wasting, and underweight in children with minimum-adequacy diets (OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.15-1.86) compared with children with maximum-adequacy diets. Those associations were more pronounced among children who were not breastfed (OR, 2.44; 95% CI, 1.19-5.00) than among children who were (OR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.04-1.74; P value for the interaction = 0.07). Similar associations were observed for wasting among children who were not breastfed (OR, 2.82; 95% CI, 1.34-5.95) and who were breastfed(OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.85-1.5; P value for the interaction = 0.03).
Dairy is an essential source of nutrients that are required for healthy growth and development in children younger than 2 y, even if they satisfy minimum dietary diversity conditions in India.
在印度，尽管营养状况有所改善，但儿童的人体测量失败率仍然很高。不幸的是，人们对营养和人体测量缺陷以及饮食模式的了解还存在差距。超过一半的儿童食用素食。本研究旨在评估饮食充足水平对满足最低饮食多样性的 5772 名素食儿童（6-23 个月龄）人体测量失败的影响。
数据来自 2015-16 年全国家庭健康调查。我们创建了三种食物组合：最大充足（乳制品和四种食物组）、中等充足（乳制品和三种食物组）和最小充足（不包括乳制品的四种食物组）。我们使用逻辑回归模型计算了饮食充足水平与人体测量失败之间关联的比值比（OR）及其 95%置信区间（CI）。还探讨了母乳喂养状况的修饰作用。
约 35%的儿童生长迟缓。OR 显示，与最大充足饮食的儿童相比，最低充足饮食的儿童（OR，1.46；95%CI，1.15-1.86）的人体测量失败风险显著增加，尤其是消瘦和体重不足。这些关联在未母乳喂养的儿童中更为明显（OR，2.44；95%CI，1.19-5.00），而在母乳喂养的儿童中则不明显（OR，1.35；95%CI，1.04-1.74；交互检验 P 值=0.07）。未母乳喂养的儿童消瘦（OR，2.82；95%CI，1.34-5.95）和母乳喂养的儿童消瘦（OR，1.12；95%CI，0.85-1.5；交互检验 P 值=0.03）也存在类似的关联。
即使在印度满足最低饮食多样性条件的情况下，乳制品也是 2 岁以下儿童健康生长和发育所必需的营养来源。
