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How Can Nutrition Research Better Reflect the Relationship Between Wasting and Stunting in Children? Learnings from the Wasting and Stunting Project

Sadler, Kate; James, Philip T; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A; Briend, André; Isanaka, Sheila; Mertens, Andrew; Myatt, Mark; ... Wells, Jonathan C; + view all (2022) How Can Nutrition Research Better Reflect the Relationship Between Wasting and Stunting in Children? Learnings from the Wasting and Stunting Project. The Journal of Nutrition 10.1093/jn/nxac091. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

Childhood wasting and stunting affect large numbers of children globally. Both are important risk factors for illness and death yet, despite the fact that these conditions can share common risk factors and are often seen in the same child, they are commonly portrayed as relatively distinct manifestations of undernutrition. In 2014, the Wasting and Stunting project was launched by the Emergency Nutrition Network. Its aim was to better understand the complex relationship and associations between wasting and stunting and examine whether current separations that were apparent in approaches to policy, financing, and programs were justified or useful. Based on the project's work, this article aims to bring a wasting and stunting lens to how research is designed and financed in order for the nutrition community to better understand, prevent, and treat child undernutrition. Discussion of lessons learnt focuses on the synergy and temporal relationships between children's weight loss and linear growth faltering, the proximal and distal factors that drive diverse forms of undernutrition, and identifying and targeting people most at risk. Supporting progress in all these areas requires research collaborations across interest groups that highlight the value of research that moves beyond a focus on single forms of undernutrition, and ensures that there is equal attention given to wasting as to other forms of malnutrition, wherever it is present.

Type: Article
Title: How Can Nutrition Research Better Reflect the Relationship Between Wasting and Stunting in Children? Learnings from the Wasting and Stunting Project
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1093/jn/nxac091
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxac091
Language: English
Additional information: © The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society for Nutrition. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: child nutrition, concurrent wasting and stunting, mortality risk, research design, stunting, wasting
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10150426
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