Nutrition First: From Surviving to Thriving

Good nutrition is the bedrock of child survival and development. It is the foundation that children need to grow into healthy, happy, productive adults. 

In fact, a healthy diet is what bridges the gulf between merely surviving and truly thriving. Nutrition thus, has direct and long-lasting impacts for a child’s entire lifetime.

Children need the right foods at the right time to reach their full potential. Well-nourished children are more likely to climb the growth chart at a steady pace, learn better, play better, and develop healthy bodies and minds. 

When children miss out on the nutrients they need, it leaves them vulnerable to diseases and infections, stunts development, and reduces productivity.

The challenge

For millions of children and young people in India, eating nutritious and healthy food can have multiple roadblocks. Children either eat too little, or they eat too much. 

In other cases, children eat enough food, but their diets are not healthy and diverse which can lead to micronutrient deficiencies. In each of these cases, a child’s development and well-being can be hindered as they grow into adults.

Despite significant effort and improvement in nutritional outcomes, too many children are affected by malnutrition which affects their growth negatively. 

Varied forms of malnutrition pose various and specific growth-related problems, such as children being shorter for their age (stunting) or being thinner for their height (wasting). 

This causes irreversible physical damage to their bodies and brains, impacting children’s ability to learn in school and earn as an adult. 

Another form of malnutrition is deficiencies of essential vitamins and minerals, which leads to micronutrient deficiencies such as anaemia.

Overweight and obesity is another form of malnutrition. This is linked to the quantity and quality of food children consume. Owing to global challenges and families’ incomes taking a hit, many have increasingly turned to cheaper, pre-packaged and highly processed foods.

These foods do not contain the nutrients children need and can lead to overweight and obesity. Being overweight at a young age increases the risk of non-communicable and cardiovascular diseases like diabetes and high-blood pressure later in life. In women, being overweight can also lead to problems during pregnancy.

While children in India are safer today than they have ever been, improving the nutritional status of children can foster safer and better futures for the children in India who are stunted, wasted, or overweight/ obese... Numbers suggest that by successfully tackling wasting, India can recover US$48 billion in lifetime lost productivity.

This means the push to ensure holistic nutrition for each child in India can contribute to safeguarding, if not, vivifying the future of the nation as well.

Owing to socio-cultural norms and practices; nutrition is also deeply connected to gender inequality. Malnutrition starts in the womb and is passed down through the generations.

Gender norms mean women often eat least and last, especially when families are faced with mounting financial pressures and food scarcity. The most disadvantaged girls and women are the most overlooked and malnourished.

When a mother is malnourished during pregnancy, she’s more likely to give birth to a child suffering from malnutrition. We see this cycle play out in multiple children who start their first days dangerously small, in need of extra care and with a higher risk of dying.

Maternal nutrition is key to a child’s development

Ensuring adequate diet and nutrition during pregnancy is the first step in safeguarding a child’s nutrition. This is because a substantial part of physical and brain development occurs when a baby is still in its mother’s womb. 

Without adequate maternal nutrition, the transfer of nutrients from mother to foetus is reduced. Later, such babies become more prone to malnutrition.

Anaemia or iron deficiency is one of the most common and widespread nutritional disorders in the world and is caused due to insufficient dietary iron intake in a poor-quality diet. 

This impairs the circulation of oxygen in the blood, which in turn has detrimental effects on maternal and birth outcomes, suboptimal child growth, and impaired learning (International Food Policy Research Institute, 2016). Other nutritional deficiencies, infections or inflammations can also cause anaemia.

Anaemia which can lead to the risk of bleeding in pregnant women, cause premature death and reduce physical endurance and productivity remains a critical issue for vulnerable communities across India. 

Other than reducing the risk of maternal and neo-natal mortality, tackling anaemia also safeguards mothers and babies from a myriad of birth-related complications, thus ensuring a positive pregnancy and birthing experience.

Women’s nutrition matters. Not only is it a human right; it is also essential for women’s survival, well-being and participation both, in their communities and with their children.

Women’s nutrition – especially before and during the nutritionally vulnerable period of pregnancy and breastfeeding – is critical to preventing malnutrition in all its forms. This is particularly true for the most vulnerable mothers and babies.