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we are what we eatS. Behind this banal expression there is a great deal of truth. Diet directly affects our health and its incidence in disease prevention is beyond doubt. But it also determines other aspects such as height. At least this is what emerges from new research led by experts from Imperial College London (UK).
And that’s the study, that used data from 65 million children between the ages of 5 and 19 in 193 countries, revealed that the height and weight of school-age children, which are indicators of their health and the quality of their diets, vary enormously around the world. Specific poor nutrition in school years may have created an 8-inch height gap among the different countries according to the results published in “The Lancet”.
Specific, there was an 8-inch difference between 19-year-olds in the highest and lowest nations; this represents a growth gap of eight years for girls and six years for boys. For example, the study revealed that the average 19-year-old girl in Bangladesh and Guatemala (the nations with the shortest girls in the world) is the same height as an average 11-year-old girl in the Netherlands, the country with both girls and boys. . taller children.
Height and body mass index
Research data: height
- The research includes data from 1985 to 2019.
- The nations with the tallest 19-year-olds in 2019 were in northwestern and central Europe and included the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark and Iceland.
- The nations with the lowest 19 years in 2019 were mainly in South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and East Africa, including Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Guatemala and Bangladesh.
- The greatest improvements in the average height of children over the 35-year period were observed in emerging economies such as China, South Korea and parts of Southeast Asia.
- The height of children, particularly boys, in many sub-Saharan African countries has remained steady or decreased during these decades.
Research data: BMI
- The study also evaluated the children’s body mass index (BMI), a measure of the relationship between height and weight, which provides an indication of whether a person is a healthy weight for their height.
- The analysis found that 19-year-olds with the highest BMI were found in the Pacific Islands, the Middle East, the United States and New Zealand.
- The 19-year-old BMI was the lowest in South Asian countries such as India and Bangladesh.
- The difference between the lightest and heaviest BMI in the study was about 9 BMI units (equivalent to about 25 kg of weight).
This was warned by the international team author of the study highly variable infant nutrition, especially the lack of quality food, it can lead to stunted growth and an increase in childhood obesity, which affects a child’s health and well-being throughout their life.
“In some countries, children grow up healthy until the age of five, but lag behind in school years. This shows that there is an imbalance between investments in improving nutrition in schoolchildren and school-aged children and adolescents. This problem is particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools are closed around the world and many poor families are unable to provide adequate nutrition for their children, “explains Professor Majid Ezzati, lead author of the study. .
“Our findings should motivate policies that increase the availability and reduce the cost of nutritious foods, as this will help children grow taller without gaining excess weight relative to their height. These initiatives include nutritious meal vouchers for low-income families and healthy, free school meal programs that are particularly threatened during the pandemic. These measures would allow children to grow taller without gaining weight, with lifelong benefits for their health and well-being.“, concludes Dr. Andrea Rodríguez Martínez, co-author of the work.
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