Poor nutrition during the school years may have resulted in a...

A new global analysis, led by Imperial College London, has examined the height and weight of school-age children and adolescents around the world.

The research is published in the journal The Lancet.

In some countries, children grow healthily up to five years of age, but fall behind in the school years. Professor Majid Ezzati study author

Using data from 65 million children aged five to 19 in 193 countries, the study found that school-age children ‘s height and weight are indicators of their health and the quality of their diet around the world are different.

Country-specific data can be found under the following link: https://www.ncdrisc.org/data-visualisations.html

There was a 20 cm difference between 19 year olds in the tallest and shortest countries – this meant an eight year growth gap for girls and a six year growth gap for boys. For example, the study found that the average 19-year-old girl in Bangladesh and Guatemala (the nations with the shortest girls in the world) is the same size as the average 11-year-old girl in the Netherlands, the nation with the tallest boys and girls.

The international team behind the study warns that a very variable diet in children, especially a lack of quality foods, can lead to stunted growth and an increase in obesity in children, which can affect the health and well-being of a child Child throughout their life.

Dutch children among the greatest

The research, which included data from 1985 to 2019, found that the nations with the tallest 19-year-olds in 2019 were in north-western and central Europe, including the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark and Iceland.

Those nations with the shortest 19-year-olds in 2019 were primarily located in South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and East Africa, including Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Guatemala, and Bangladesh.

Our results should motivate guidelines that increase the availability and decrease the cost of nutritious foods as this will help children grow taller without gaining excess weight for their height. Dr. Andrea Rodriguez Martinez study author

The largest improvements in average child height over 35 years have been seen in emerging economies such as China, South Korea, and some parts of Southeast Asia. For example, 19-year-old boys in China were 8 cm taller in 2019 than they were in 1985, with their global rank changing from the 150th highest in 1985 to 65th in 2019. In contrast, the size of children, especially boys, has been in many sub-Saharan countries. African nations have stagnated or decreased in size over these decades.

The global altitude ranking for Great Britain has deteriorated over the past 35 years. 19-year-old boys fell from 28 (176.3 cm) to 2019 (178.2 cm) and 19 (42.2 cm). 162.7 cm) to 49. (163.9 cm).

The study also rated children’s body mass index (BMI) – a measure of height-to-weight ratio that provides an indication of whether a person is a healthy weight for their height. The analysis found that 19-year-olds with the largest BMI were found in the Pacific Islands, the Middle East, the United States, and New Zealand. The BMI of 19-year-olds was lowest in South Asian countries like India and Bangladesh. The difference between the lightest and the heaviest BMI in the study was about nine BMI units (equivalent to about 25 kg weight).

Lack of healthy eating during the school years

The research team stated that the analysis also found that children as young as five in many countries had a height and weight in the healthy range as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, after this age, children in some countries have experienced undergrowth in height and gained too much weight relative to the potential for healthy growth.

The team says the main reason for this is the lack of adequate and healthy nutrition and living environment during the school years, as both weight gain and weight gain are closely related to the quality of a child’s diet.

Professor Majid Ezzati, lead author of the study at the Imperial School of Public Health, said, “Children in some countries grow healthily up to five years old, but fall behind in the school years. This shows that there is an imbalance between investing in improving the nutrition of preschoolers and school-age children and adolescents. This issue is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools around the world are closed and many poor families are unable to adequately feed their children. ”

Dr. Andrea Rodriguez Martinez, lead author of the Imperial School of Public Health study, added, “Our results should motivate actions to increase availability and reduce the cost of nutritious foods, as it will help children grow taller without gaining excess weight increase their height. These initiatives include food vouchers for nutritious foods for low-income families, as well as free healthy school lunch programs, which are particularly at risk during the pandemic. These measures would allow children to grow taller without becoming obese and have lifelong benefits to their health and wellbeing. ”

The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust, AstraZeneca Young Health Program, European Union.

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“Height and Body Mass Index Trajectories of School-Age Children and Adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 Countries: A Pooled Analysis of 2,182 Population-Based Studies with 65 Million Participants” was published in The Lancet

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