Dietary Predictors of Growth in Vulnerable Young Children from Four Low‐Resource Countries: a Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Longitudinal associations between dietary factors and growth patterns were examined in infants/toddlers from Zambia, DRC, Guatemala and Pakistan in a secondary analysis of a previously published large randomized efficacy trial of daily meat vs fortified cereal supplements as complementary foods. Growth (i.e. z‐scores for length (LAZ), weight (WLZ)), diet (i.e. infant/young child feeding practices (IYCFP), food groups consumed), and SES data were collected from 929 breastfed children aged 6‐18 mo (arms combined). Diet at 9 and 12 mo were correlated with growth measures at 12 and 18 mo, respectively, using adjusted IYCFP (terciles), multiple linear regression and logistic regression analyses. Significant findings (p<0.05) include: 1) no dietary meat/fish/insects (MFI) and no milk/dairy (MD) at 9 mo were associated with reduced LAZ at 12 mo; 2) increased risk (OR) of stunting (LAZ<‐2SD) at 12 mo was found in boys (1.9) and low SES (1.7) and associated with low dietary diversity (DD) (3.2), no MFI (1.9), and no MD (2.3) at 9 mo; 3) low DD and no MD at 12 mo were associated with decreased LAZ at 18 mo, while low food variety, low DD and no MFI with reduced WLZ; 4) increased risk of stunting at 18 mo was found in boys (1.8) and associated with no MD (1.7) at 12 mo. This longitudinal study emphasizes the critical role of the quality of complementary feeding on growth in the first 2 years of life in children from low‐resource settingsFunded by NIH/NICHD/ODSAcknowledgement: LL Wright, NICHD, Rockville, MD