1. Nutrition and cognitive development

2. nutrition
The effect of under-nutrition on young children (ages 0-8) can be devastating and enduring.
It can impede behavioral and cognitive development, educability, and reproductive health, thereby undermining future work productivity.
Since growth failure occurs almost exclusively during the first two years of life, resulting in stunting or anemia
therefore calls for interventions, which focus on the very young.

3. Whether or not children are well-nourished during their first years of life can have a profound effect on their health status, as well as their ability to ;
learn,
communicate,
think analytically,
socialize effectively
adapt to new environments and people.

4. Effects
Good nutrition is the first line of defense against numerous childhood diseases, which can leave their mark on a child for life.
In the area of cognitive development, "when there isn't enough food, the body has to make a decision about how to invest the limited foodstuffs available.
Survival comes first.
Growth comes second. the body seems obliged to rank learning last. Better to be stupid and alive than smart and dead" (Sagan and Druyan).

5. Low Income
Some of the developmental problems experienced by malnourished children are caused by direct physiological crippling, such as;
retarded brain growth and low birth weight
where as other conditions are the result of limited and abnormal interaction and stimulation vital to healthy development.
Good nutrition and good health are very closely linked throughout the lifespan
the connection is even more striking during infancy.
Over half of child mortality in low-income countries can be attributed to malnutrition.

6. The relationship between under-nutrition and cognitive and behavioral development
Does under-nutrition impair behavioral development?
Poor nutrition during intrauterine life and early years leads to profound and varied effects including:
Delayed physical growth and motor development
General effects on cognitive development resulting in lower IQs (lower by 15 points or more in the severely malnourished)
Greater degree of behavioral problems and deficient social skills at school age
Decreased attention, deficient learning, and lower educational achievement.

7. Are these effects found only in the severely malnourished?
The effects of under-nutrition on cognition occur as well in children without clinical signs of under-nutrition but who are not neuro-typical in growth.
Most of the food supplementation experiments in developing countries, for example, were aimed at the nonseverly malnourished children.

8. Who is more affected by under-nutrition?
Under-nutrition and the socioeconomic context in which it occurs appear to be related.
Under-nutrition has a greater effect on development in children living in poverty, whether in industrialised or developing countries
than on children who are not poor.
Some evidence suggests that nutrition interventions benefit cognition and behavior to a greater extent among the poorer segment of society.

9. Which nutrients are responsible for cognitive and behavioral impairments?
no evidence indicates that deficiencies in protein and energy are unimportant. The safest course for ensuring cognitive and behavioral development is to meet all nutrient needs with natural or fortified foods prepared appropriately for young children.
The benefits of breastfeeding also must be considered in fostering growth and development.

10. When in life are nutrition interventions more likely to be effective?
Strong evidence suggests that the earlier children begin benefiting from nutrition interventions the greater the improvement on behavioral development.
In the case of physical growth, nutrition interventions may be effective only during pregnancy and the fist 2-3 years of life.
For behavioral development, nutrition interventions may have a benefit, although much reduced, at later ages.

11. Are the effects of under-nutrition irreversible?
Considerable evidence indicates that substantial improvements can be achieved, even in severely malnourished children, if appropriate steps are taken at a young age to satisfy nutritional and psychosocial needs.
The longer the developmental delays remain uncorrected, the greater the chance of permanent effects.
once the effects of under-nutrition are established in early childhood, they typically become permanent.
The intellectual potential of such children at school entry most likely is already damaged irrevocably.

12. Are the effects of improved nutrition long lasting?
Yes.
Long-term studies indicate that nutrition interventions aimed at preschool children in the first few years of life lead to measurable improvements in adolescence and adulthood.

13. Do early interventions to stimulate cognitive development interact with nutrition interventions?
Early intervention programs to stimulate cognition have improved cognition and perhaps physical growth.
Similar to nutrition interventions, the earlier the program is started, the better the results tend to be.
Although current evidence is not conclusive regarding whether the effects of stimulation are additive or interactive, children who receive combined nutrition and stimulation programs perform better than those who receive either type of intervention alone

14. The importance of early nutrition interventions and their relationship to cognitive ability in the short- and long-term is very clear.
It is also clear that both nutrition and early stimulation programs work better when children benefit from them simultaneously.
projects can help prevent and address malnutrition by providing supplemental feeding in center-based and home-based settings and by educating parents about their children's nutritional needs.

15. Sources
Martorell, R "Undernutrition During Pregnancy and Early Childhood and its Consequences for Behavioral Development." Paper prepared for World Bank's conference on Early Child Development: Investing in the Future, April 8 & 9, 1996.
Sagan, C., A. Druyan "Literacy -- The Path to A More Prosperous, Less Dangerous America." Parade Magazine, March 6, 1994.