ABSTRACT DIGEST ON MATERNAL AND CHILD NUTRITION RESEARCH – ISSUE 29

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In this issue of Abstract Digest, we present to you a collection of articles on various outcomes, determinants and interventions related to maternal and child nutrition, from around the world and India, in particular. Additionally, articles from three special issues including BMJ Global Health’s supplement on the measurement of reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition, Maternal & Child Nutrition’s supplement on the marketing and consumption of commercial foods fed to young children in low and middle‐income countries, and the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences’ special issue on the risk of excessive intake of vitamins and minerals are featured in this issue. Here are some of the highlights:

• Using nationally representative repeated cross-sections from all available Demographic and Health Surveys from 72 countries, Finaret and Masters (2019) explained that even after accounting for random measurement error of birth dates that lead to spurious child heights, season of birth remains a determinant of height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) in many of the poorest countries.
• Using data from India’s 2015–16 National Family Health Survey, Kim and colleagues (2019) examined the relative importance of 23 correlates of anthropometric failures and found strong association with maternal factors including stature, education, and body-mass index, and with household wealth and air quality.
• Linking nationally-representative anthropometric data from India’s 2015–2016 Demographic and Health Survey with satellite-based PM_2.5 exposure (concentration) data , Spears and colleagues (2019) found that exposure to PM_2.5 in the last trimester and in the first few months of life are significantly associated with child height deficits.
• In the context of current global scenario of micronutrient (MN) inadequacy and excess, both of which are detrimental to health, Engle‐Stone and colleagues (2019) proposed a framework for comparing risks of micronutrient deficiency and excess.
• In an editorial, Rasmussen (2019) raised the issue of lack of research on human milk composition and as a consequence lack of study of maternal nutritional status as it relates to composition of milk. In this context, he directed the readers to an important work by Daniels et al. (2019):
  • Daniels and colleagues (2019) evaluated the adequacy of micronutrient intakes of exclusively breastfed infants by measuring breast milk volume and its micronutrient concentrations and assessed maternal micronutrient intakes and its relationship with breast milk concentrations.
• In a systematic review, Pries and colleagues (2019) summarized literature on the contribution of snack food and sugar‐sweetened beverages consumption to total energy intakes of children below 23 months of age in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMIC) and found that such foods contributed to a substantial proportion of total energy intake but there is limited evidence on how such foods affect overall dietary adequacy, and growth.
• Using data from 191 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) from 65 LMICs, Bogler and colleagues (2019) concluded that measles vaccination substantially reduces stunting and underweight among children in low- and middle-income countries.
• In a Cochrane Collaboration’s systematic review, Goudet and colleagues (2019) assessed the impact of nutritional interventions on nutrition outcomes (including stunting, wasting and underweight) and non‐nutritional outcomes (socioeconomic, health and developmental) among children below five years living in urban slums in LMICs. The authors found no evidence of effect of the interventions among this population, which otherwise were found to be effective in outside of the slum contexts.
• In a special supplement on the measurement of reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition:
  • Emphasizing on the need to advance the nutrition intervention coverage measurement agenda, Gillespie and colleagues (2019) identified 24 nutrition interventions that should be tracked by all countries, and determined if their coverage is currently measured by major household nutrition and health surveys and used three case studies to illustrate feasibility of innovations in data collection.
  • Amouzou and colleagues (2019) raised the issue of the gaps between crude coverage indicators, contact coverage indicators and those that measure effective coverage and proposed a framework for the measurement of effective coverage. In addition, the authors applied the framework in their systematic literature review and provided examples of how the framework can be operationalized for reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition (RMNCH+N).
• In a commentary on dietary guidance for children under 2 years of age, Pérez‐Escamilla and colleagues (2019) argued the importance of responsive feeding in child care and development and highlighted the need for incorporating responsive feeding principles into dietary guidelines for infants and young children.
• Using existing literature, Walls and colleagues (2019) discussed three key pathways of the impact of trade and investment on nutrition and non-communicable diseases and asserted that trade openness could have contributed to shifts in dietary patterns, and foreign direct investment is most strongly associated with increases in obesity and NCDs.
• Based on data from India’s National Sample Survey Office’s surveys on healthcare, Ghosh and Husain (2019) evaluated the impact of the National Health Mission on improving utilization of maternal healthcare services in Bihar, which had very poor maternal and child health outcomes at the start of the mission.
• Menon and colleagues (2019) illustrated the concept of “effective convergence” i.e., the successful reach of nutrition-related programs from relevant sectors to address the key determinants of poor nutrition for the same household, same woman, and same child in the first 1,000 days and comment that convergence can only be deemed successful when all interventions reach all target households in the right timeframes.
• Analysing the role of self-targeting in reforming the Indian food subsidy program, Kozicka and Vanneman (2019) explained the under-purchase, or low take-up, from the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), which is typically attributed to ‘leakage’, and provided an alternative solution based on self-targeting; while poorer households increase their consumption from the TPDS, wealthier households restrain from consuming subsidized commodities.

Enjoy reading!