CHILDREN NUTRITION

Childs nutrition is the dietary requirements to sustain healthy individuals from the age of 2 years up to around 11 years, at this stage nutrition, plays an important role in brain development and body growth in general, and as we talk about optimal nutrition; is providing food that is in accordance with the requirements of the body and as well a diet that is balanced to avoid inadequacy or excess consumption of nutrients that will end up causing malnutrition.

When good nutrition is not provided to children they will be affected with stunted growth(their age don’t reciprocate their height), brain retardation and wasting; either the child will end up with kwashiorkor or marasmus and will limit the child to grow to the full potential meaning their motor and cognitive the functioning will be affected greatly. Children at this stage need to be provided with adequate food in order to meet their energy requirements because of their involvement to lots of playing that takes of the greater percentage of their energy.

PROTEIN ENERGY MALNUTRITION

Protein-energy malnutrition be classified by the degree of wasting and stunting. Wasting (weight expressed as a percentage of the expected weight-for-height) indicates current or recent nutritional conditions, whereas stunting (height-for-age) indicates nutritional experiences over a longer period of time. It is probable that the duration of malnutrition is more highly related to children’s mental development than short-term severity, Sally M. Grantham-McGregor et al. Since it is easy to detect the long term effects of the cognitive functioning unlike short term, kwashiorkor and marasmus can be long term effects of malnutrition that affects children mostly under five who have been lacking proteins and balanced diet for a very long time and when the child is affected by this it will slow down the brain growth and lead to slower memory.

NUTRITION AND COGNITION

Cognitive development is influenced by many factors, including nutrition. There is an increasing body of literature that suggests a connection between improved nutrition and optimal brain function. Nutrients provide building blocks that play a critical role in cell proliferation, DNA synthesis, neurotransmitter and hormone metabolism, and are important constituents of enzyme systems in the brain, Nyarandi Annette et al (2013). Insufficient consumption of some vitamins example B12 which is majorly found in animal products as compared to plant products can lead to conditions like involuntary muscle movements, demyelination of nerves cells, language development, short term memory and other related clinical conditions that makes a child’s cognition capabilities go down, it can be improved by providing B12 supplements and a diet rich in the nutrient to correct the neurological defects.

ZINC

Zinc is also another vital nutrient for the cognitive development and can affect almost all stages in life if deficiencies occur, it is a cofactor to most of the enzymes in the brain that regulates metabolic activities including RNA and DNA synthesis, also in neurogenesis, maturation and migration of neurons in the synapse formation which affects memory abilities and zinc supplementations in accompaniment with iron (because of the nutrient interaction) can positively affect the immunity and cognitive development in children.

IRON

One of the most common nutritional deficiencies in both developing and developed countries is iron deficiency. In some parts of the world, such as in Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia, the prevalence is more than 40%. In developed countries—including Australia—it could be as high as 20%, particularly in pregnant women and in children (WHO 2008). Iron is involved in a number of enzymes in the brain which is the cytochrome C oxidase for energy production, tyrosine hydroxylase for dopamine receptor synthesis, fatty acid synthesis and ribonucleic reductase for brain growth regulations, the long term insufficient amount of iron is that children will have poor cognitive and school performances and so supplementations and provision of the nutrient in the diet is essential for the young ones.

IODINE

.Insufficient iodine in the soil in most part of the world has led to the fortification of iodized salts to reduce the deficiencies of iodine, which is responsible for the production of thyroid fluids, it also causes cognitive impairment and can be solved by iodine supplementation.

OMEGA 3

Essential fatty acids play a major role in brain tissue, they modulate membrane fluidity thereby influencing the receptors and enzyme activities, they promote neural and dendritic spine growth and synaptic membrane synthesis hence influencing neural transmission. Equal ratio intake of the seafood omega 6 and omega 3 shows a successful brain development with higher language and social skills in early childhood.

Nutrition remains to be playing a major part in the child’s development and it should be taken into consideration, the most the challenge that families are facing is poverty that leads to them not accessing variety of foods for them to provide a balanced diet for the growing children and so countries should focus more on poverty eradication in order to continue raising healthy individuals in society.

Article compiled and Edited by Sharon Tallam and Simiyu Nalianya-Nutrition Student, Baraton University and Karatina University Respectively.