Haile Beliyou, Headey Derek
International Food Policy Research Institute, Environment and Production Technology Division, Eye Street, 1201 I St NW, Washington, DC 20005, United States.
International Food Policy Research Institute, Development Strategy and Governance Division, Eye Street, 1201 I St NW, Washington, DC 20005, United States.
Food Policy. 2023 Jul;118:102485. doi: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2023.102485.
Agricultural and food policies are increasingly being tasked with doing more to improve the nutritional status of low-income populations, especially reductions in child stunting. Which specific food sectors warrant additional policy attention is less clear, although a growing body of research argues that increased animal-sourced food consumption in general, and increased dairy consumption specifically, can significantly reduce the risks of stunting, as well as deficiencies in micronutrients and high quality protein. However, experimental research on dairy's impacts on child growth in developing countries is very limited, and non-experimental evidence is confined to cross-sectional surveys. In this study we adopt a more macro lens by using a cross-country panel to show that increases in milk consumption over time are associated with large reductions in child stunting even after controlling for important confounding factors. Countries with high rates of stunting should therefore consider nutrition-sensitive strategies to increase dairy consumption among young children through both supply- and demand-side interventions.
农业和粮食政策越来越多地被赋予更多任务，以改善低收入人群的营养状况，尤其是减少儿童发育迟缓现象。虽然越来越多的研究认为，总体上增加动物源性食品的消费，特别是增加乳制品的消费，可以显著降低发育迟缓以及微量营养素和优质蛋白质缺乏的风险，但哪些具体的食品部门值得更多的政策关注尚不清楚。然而，关于乳制品对发展中国家儿童生长影响的实验研究非常有限，非实验性证据仅限于横断面调查。在本研究中，我们采用了一个更宏观的视角，通过跨国面板数据表明，即使在控制了重要的混杂因素之后，随着时间的推移牛奶消费量的增加与儿童发育迟缓的大幅减少相关。因此，发育迟缓率高的国家应考虑采取营养敏感型战略，通过供应侧和需求侧干预措施来增加幼儿的乳制品消费。
