A Systematic Review on Nutritional Vulnerability and Opportunity during the First 1000 Days of Life for Ensuring Better Human Capital

S Vyas

doi:10.17485/ijst/v14i30.1253

Abstract

Objectives: To explore, compile facts, evidences regarding importance and nutritional vulnerability of first 1000 days and existing interventional opportunities. Methods: Conduction of a systematic review by surfing electronic databases including Pub Med, MEDLINE, Scopus, ProQuest, CINAHL, Web of Science, EMBASE, Science Direct, Google Scholar etc. The keywords used for searching the articles include First 1000 days, Maternal and Child health, early life, Malnutrition, economic impact of early life malnutrition, first 1000 days and impact on human capital etc. Review material which focused on the nutritional aspect of an individual’s life starting from the point of conception to 2 year were analyzed and a concrete synthesis was reproduced. Findings: Approximately forty research and reviews were assessed and it was concluded that considering the entire life course the early life period is considered as critical in deciding health and wellbeing. First 1000 days have been recognized as period of maximum plasticity and greatest potential for introducing nutritional interventions. Any negligence during this period can reciprocate early disparities in children’s functioning which can further cause problems in field of future education and employment opportunities. Economic development of any nation is directly influenced by its citizens health therefore health care providers should refer to existing services available for mother, infants and young children and also advocate nutritious diets. Public policies should ensure appropriate supply of nutrients for better foundation of early growth and development which in turn is key factor for long term good health. Novelty/ Improvement: Factors associated with nutritional vulnerability of first 1000 days suggest that interventions aiming at short term gains like improvement in birth weight and infant survival can further have a long-lasting effect during the entire life course. Keywords: Nutritional Vulnerability; First 1000 Days; Human Capital; Programme Implication; Cognitive development; Stunting; Wasting

Highlights

The first 1000 days expanding from conception to child’s second birthday are considered as critical window of interventional opportunity
World Health Assembly emphasized in 2012 the adversities associated with low birth weight, stunting, wasting as well as anemia in females and suggested different measures to overcome the same[1].This unique period of opportunity lays foundation for overall growth and development which is an important aspect considering the entire life span still in developing countries poverty as well as its attendant conditions like malnutrition have a debilitating effect resulting in earlier mortality, notable morbidity and insidiously significant loss of human capital[2]
Evidence based researches have highlighted that life course determinants of young adult human capital along with disease risk factors are directly linked with weight gain and faster linear growth during the first 2 years of life

Summary

Introduction

The first 1000 days expanding from conception to child’s second birthday are considered as critical window of interventional opportunity. Researches have generated evidence based data highlighting that nations which fail to do investment targeting initial 1000 days of life might lose a higher amount of capital because it has direct bearing on individuals economic productivity later in life Wellbeing of both women and children is compromised due to nutritional neglect thereby increasing health expenditure. Failure to provide adequate amount of calories and other key nutrients can result into stunting and irreversible deficit in brain functioning besides adding up other health risks like obesity, cardiovascular, metabolic and endocrine complications[3] This major influence of early life undernutrition along with weight gain in later period as well as development of NCDs has resulted into double burden of malnutrition)(4). ‘UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-25) and Sustainable Developmental Goals’ emphasized the need to resolve the issue of malnutrition by shifting focus to to early life nutrition of the program planners and policy makers [2,5]

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