According to the Unicef’s 2012 report, ‘State of the world’s children’, one in three newborns in India is of low birth weight, bringing the number of unhealthy, stunted disease-prone infants born every year to a whopping 6 million.
Discussing these alarming statistics, at least 100 scientists from across the world gathered at a symposium organised by the Nestle Nutrition Institute concluded that the first 1,000 days of an individual’s life, from conception, across the pregnancy stage and till 2 years old, is the most crucial period.
“Undernourishment or lack of certain nutrients during these 1,000 days will have long-term effects on a persons life, as during this period the brain is developing along with other body systems,” said Dr Satish Kalhan, top pediatrician and patho-biologist at the Cleveland clinic, Ohio. “We now have evidence that undernourished mothers, who are deficient in iron, folic acid, Vitamin B12 and calcium give birth to babies that will develop lifestyle diseases such as coronary artery disease, diabetes and hypertension in adulthood,” he says.
This is because these babies are subjected to adverse conditions in their mother’s wombs, and they adapt to these deficiencies.
This causes a change in the baby’s genes, pre-disposing them to non-communicable diseases in early adulthood, explained Dr Kalhan, pointing out that babies at the other end of the spectrum—those born to mothers who overeat during pregnancy also suffer the same fate.
“It is important to stabilise the growth curve of low birth weight babies — if they grow too fast, they are at risk of developing glucose intolerance and insulin resistance by adolescence, and if they don’t grow well enough, there are chances of developing problems like low IQ and cognitive difficulties,” added Dr Kalhan , who has a large number of international publications in journals like Pubmed and Medline.
“The window of opportunity to correct these nutrition issues for the baby is very short, just two years. To avoid being caught in a tight spot, mothers should be targeted when they are teenagers. Young girls should be treated for anemia and folic acid deficiencies, so they can have healthy babies,” said Prof Ferdinand Haschke, chairman, Nestle Nutrition Institute.
Karachi-based Prof Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, president of the Commonwealth association of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition believes that fortification of food provided through ration shops would go a long way to reduce malnutrition in the general population, especially the poor.
While almost all foods, including flour, bread, corn and sugar are fortified with essential nutrients in developed countries the Indian government could replicate the same with the commonly consumed food groups here.