31st August, 2020

IN THIS ISSUE:

THE PROBLEM OF MALNUTRITION

THE SOLUTION FOR MALNUTRITION

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31st August, 2020

THE PROBLEM OF MALNUTRITION

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1. ADDITIONAL 6.7 MILLION CHILDREN UNDER 5 COULD SUFFER FROM WASTING DUE TO
COVID-19: UNICEF

According to the UNICEF, in India, there are still around 20 million children under five years of age who are
suffering from wasting.
According to the Global Hunger Index, wasting among children in India rose from 16.5 per cent in 2008-2012
to 20.8 per cent in 2014-2018.

Wasting is a life-threatening form of malnutrition, which makes children too thin and weak, and puts them
at greater risk of dying, poor growth, development and learning.

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c hi l d r e n- un d er - 5- c ou l d - s uf fe r - f r o m - w a st i n g- du e- to - co vi d- 1 9- u ni ce f- 65 2 7 6 1 9 /

2. EXCESS WEIGHT AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN MAY INTERFERE WITH CHILD'S

DEVELOPING BRAIN

Obesity in expectant mothers may hinder the development of the babies' brains as early as the second
trimester, a new study finds.

Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the investigation linked high body mass index
(BMI), an indicator of obesity, to changes in two brain areas, the prefrontal cortex and anterior insula. These
regions play a key role in decision-making and behavior, with disruptions having previously been linked to
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, and overeating.

F or m or e i n fo : M eg an E . N or r , Ja sm i n e L. H ec t, C ar l y J . L en n i g e r , M ar t i j n V an d en H e uv el , M or i ah E.
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T ho m a so n . An e xa m i na t i o n o f m a te r n al pr en a t al BM I a nd hu m a n fe ta l b r a i n d ev el o p m e n t . Jo ur na l o f
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C hi l d Ps yc ho l o g y an d P sy ch i a tr y, 20 2 0
31st August, 2020

THE SOLUTION FOR MALNUTRITION

BSI Nutrition India Programme: 7.4% reduction in severely malnourished kids

Within the first 10 months, the programme was able to save the lives of 6,500 children between the
ages of 1-5 with the help of 41 community nutrition workers. An independent evaluation by
Sustainable Square also found that every one rupee invested in the BSI Nutrition India Programme
delivers a social value of Rs 36.90.
The five-year programme was developed to support the first 1,000 days of a child's life, utilising
digital and artificial intelligence-based innovative modules, to strengthen the health, hygiene and
nutrition status of pregnant women and children in Maharashtra's Amravati and Nandurbar.
For more info:
BREASTFEEDING'S LEGACY MAY PROTECT AGAINST DIABETES
Breastfeeding secures delivery of sugar and fat for milk production by changing the insulin sensitivity
of organs that supply or demand these nutrients, a new study led by UT Southwestern scientists
suggests. The findings, published in this month's print issue of Diabetes, could explain how different
tissues cooperate to start and maintain lactation and offer strategies to help improve breastfeeding
success for mothers who have insufficient milk production.
Detailed metabolic studies have shown that although pregnancy reduces the body's sensitivity to
insulin, lactation may restore insulin sensitivity to a pre-pregnancy state. But it is unclear how this
process happens and how it affects highly insulin-sensitive organs, such as the liver or fat tissue.
For more info: Maria A. Ramos-Roman et al. Lactation Versus Formula Feeding: Insulin, Glucose & Fatty Acid Metabolism
During the Postpartum Period. Diabetes 2020; 69(8):1624

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31st August, 2020

CONVERSATION ON INFANT NUTRITION

1. ‘BREASTFEEDING AND COMPLEMENTARY FEEDING PRACTICES TOGETHER CAN

PREVENT ALMOST 20% OF DEATHS IN CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEARS’

Optimal nutrition in the first two years of life is critical to a child’s survival and development.
And breastfeeding, within the first hour of life, is recognised as the most important
intervention for infant survival.

Optimal breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices together can prevent almost
one-fifth of deaths in children under five years of age. Exclusively breastfed infants are at a
lower risk of diseases like diarrhoea and pneumonia, major causes of death among children
under five years.

F or m or e i n fo : h t t ps :/ / t i m e s o fi n d i a. i n d i a t i m e s .c o m / b l o g s/ t h e - i nt e r v i e w s - b l o g/ b r e a st fe e d i n g- an d -
c o m pl e m e n t a r y - f e e d i n g- pr ac t i ce s- t o g e t h e r - c an - p r e v e nt - al mo st - 2 0- o f- d e at h s- i n- ch i l d r e n- un d e r - fi v e -
years/

2. FEEDING THE FUTURE OF INDIA

A recent study, conducted by the author and co-authors William Joe and SV Subramanian,
titled ‘Living on the Edge? Sensitivity of Child Undernutrition Prevalence to Bodyweight
Shocks in the Context of the 2020 National Lockdown Strategy in India’, published in the
Journal of Global Health Science, contextualises the sensitivity of undernutrition among poor
children in India amidst Covid-19.
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By using household-level data from NFHS 2015-16, the study reveals that even with a minor
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weight-loss of 0.5%, the prevalence of underweight and wasting among poor children can
increase substantially—for a child weighing 10 kg, such change would imply losing about 50
gm. Assuming a scenario of 5% weight-loss, India will experience an increase of 4,393,178
and 5,140,396 additional cases of under-weight and wasting, respectively.
31st August, 2020

About 5 million children are at risk of falling in the wasting category of malnourishment,
while an additional 2 million children are at risk of being severely wasted.

F or m or e i n fo : h t t ps :/ / w w w .fi n an ci al e x pr e s s .c o m / o p i n i o n/ co v i d - 1 9 - fe e d i ng - t h e - f ut ur e - o f -
i nd i a / 2 06 32 6 4 /

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31st August, 2020

HCP COMMUNICATION
1. VITAMIN D SUPPLEMENTS ARE VITAL FOR BABY’S GUT MICROBIOME

The study, published in the journal Gut Microbes, found that vitamin D supplementation is associated
with compositional changes in a baby’s microbiome--notably a lower abundance of the bacteria
Megamonas--at three months of age.

According to Kozyrskyj, an infant’s gut microbiota undergoes a rapid change in early life. Therefore, it is
critical to understand the factors associated with microbial communities populating the infant gut during
this key developmental period.

“Low vitamin D levels have been associated with a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)--a common lung
infection among infants--and more recently, susceptibility to COVID-19 disease” 

F or m or e i n fo : ht tp s :/ / w w w . hi n d us t a n ti m e s. c om / h e al t h /v i t a m i n- d- su pp l em e n ts - a r e - vi t al - f or - ba by - s-
g ut - m i cr o bi om e- st ud y/ s t or y- s F 4 YM C Y D T dk C v vc B5 j 0 N C L . ht m l

2. NEW TEST BETTER PREDICTS WHICH BABIES WILL DEVELOP TYPE 1 DIABETES

A new approach to predicting which babies will develop type 1 diabetes moves a step closer to routine
testing for newborns which could avoid life-threatening complications.

Scientists at seven international sites have followed 7,798 children at high risk of developing type 1
diabetes from birth, over nine years, in The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young
(TEDDY) Study. The TEDDY Study is a large international study funded primarily by the US National
Institutes of Health and U.S. Centers for Disease Control, as well as by the charity JDRF.
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31st August, 2020

In research published in Nature Medicine, scientists at the University of Exeter and the Pacific Northwest
Research Institute in Seattle used the TEDDY data to develop a method of combining multiple factors
that could influence whether a child is likely to develop type 1 diabetes. The combined risk score
approach incorporates genetics, clinical factors such as family history of diabetes, and their count of islet
autoantibodies -- biomarkers known to be implicated in type 1 diabetes.

The research team found that the new combined approach dramatically improved prediction of which
children would develop type 1 diabetes, potentially allowing better diabetes risk counselling of families.

Lauric A. Ferrat, Kendra Vehik, Seth A. Sharp, Åke Lernmark, Marian J. Rewers, Jin-Xiong
F or m or e i n fo :
She, Anette-G. Ziegler, Jorma Toppari, Beena Akolkar, Jeffrey P. Krischer, Michael N. Weedon, Richard
A. Oram, William A. Hagopian. A combined risk score enhances prediction of type 1 diabetes among
susceptible children. Nature Medicine, 2020;

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