Child undernutrition can be linked with various outcomes – child death, impaired cognitive development in early childhood, reduced school attainment, lower labour productivity and lower wage earning. For a child growth, it is essential to have complementary foods with high quality protein and micronutrients, such as rice, wheat, maize or starchy roots and tubers. Research found that calorie intake alone is not always a strong predictor of child growth in developing countries. Dairy is a very important animal-sourced food (ASF) that contains all three macronutrients (energy, fat and protein), as well as important micronutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin B12, and calcium.
Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS) by IFPRI not only contains detailed data on children’s food intake and nutrition outcomes, but also an exceptionally rich array of data on income, wealth, agricultural production and assets, access to markets, women’s empowerment and women’s nutrition knowledge. Taking a panel data from this dataset, IFPRI conducted a research to find relation between milk consumption and child stunting.
The research finds strong biological evidence on the links between dairy consumption and child growth. It has found statically significant evidence that daily milk consumption helps in reducing stunting among children. The findings suggest higher milk production ends in higher milk consumption by the households that helps in fulfilling the need of additional nutrition for children.
Click here to read the research article.
Click here to read the news article.
(18)