Early Supplementary Feeding, Child Development, and Health Policy

Abstract

We carried out a meta-analysis of six field studies that assessed the effects of supplementary feeding on infants’ performance on mental and motor development scales— conducted in nutritionally at-risk populations in Colombia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Jamaica, Taiwan, and the United States—which showed that early high energy and protein supplementary feeding has a beneficial effect on motor development in young infants (8–15 months old) and on both motor and mental development in older infants (1824 months old) who are nutritionally at risk. These findings provide justification for food assistance programmes targeted to young at-risk children. However, positive findings in field studies do not guarantee that similar results will be achieved by large-scale programmes, as complex bureaucracies and inadequate infrastructure are often obstacles to success.