Sustainably addressing the crisis of undernutrition for children and adolescents in underserved and resource-limited communities will require, among other investments, interventions aimed at optimizing the diets of these vulnerable populations. However, to date, there are substantial global gaps in the collection of dietary data in children and adolescents. This review article summarizes the challenges and opportunities in assessing diet among children and adolescents in India. National surveys in India identify the scale of the triple burden of malnutrition (undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and overnutrition) in children and adolescents and assess key nutrition and food security indicators for making informed policy decisions. However, national surveys do not collect data on diet, instead relying on anthropometry, biomarkers of micronutrient deficiencies, and summary measures of diet, such as the WHO infant and young child feeding summary indicators. Sub-national surveys and the scientific literature thus fill important gaps in describing the nutrient intakes of children and adolescents in India; however large gaps remain. Future research can be improved by investments in infrastructure to streamline the assessment of diet in India. The current challenges confronting the collection and analysis of high-quality dietary data occur in both the data collection and data analysis phases. Common methods for assessing diets in low-resource settings—such as 24 h recalls and food frequency questionnaires are particularly challenging to implement well in young children and adolescents due to motivation and memory issues in young respondents. Additionally, there are challenges with parental recall including children having multiple caretakers and meals outside the home. Furthermore, analysis of dietary data is hindered by the lack of affordable, accessible software for dietary data analysis relevant to the diversity in Indian diets. New technologies can address some of the challenges in dietary data collection and analysis, but to date, there are no platforms designed for population-level dietary assessment in India. Public and private sector investment in dietary assessment, as well as collaboration of researchers and the creation of open-source platforms for the sharing of data inputs (local food lists, recipe databases, etc.) will be essential to build infrastructure to better understand the diets of children and adolescents in India and improve dietary interventions in these target groups.
Objectives Maternal anemia is a critical public health problem, especially in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) like India. Anemia during pregnancy increases the risk of poor fetal outcomes, such as low birth weight. The Indian national Iron + Initiative includes iron & folic acid (IFA) supplementation for pregnant & lactating women. We sought out to assess the effectiveness of the IFA program in Nagpur, India. Methods We conducted a prospective cohort study of 200 pregnant women from four clusters in Nagpur (Eastern Maharashtra), India. Maternal hemoglobin was assessed using Hemocue and the finger prick method. Anemia was defined as hemoglobin < 110g/L. IFA receipt and consumption was assessed via questionnaire during the 1st and 3rd trimester of pregnancy. Results Hemocue/capillary assessment revealed prevalence of anemia in the third trimester of 69.52% (N = 187), as compared to 50.0% (N = 200) in the first trimester. In the first trimester, 44.5% of women reported consuming IFA the previous day, while 84.8% reported consuming it the previous day by the 3rd trimester. In the first trimester, 61% (n = 122) of women reported receiving IFA: 43% for free from a public health facility, 14% purchased it from a store/pharmacy, and 4% from other locations. By the 3rd trimester, 99.5% of women had received IFA: 75.4% for free from a facility, 11.8% from a pharmacy/store and 8.02% from other locations. Conclusions We noted a markedly high prevalence of anemia in pregnancy that increased from the first to third trimester, characteristic of physiologic amenia, despite an increase IFA coverage and consumption. Other nutritional and non-nutritional interventions to reduce anemia in pregnancy need to be explored to prevent maternal anemia in Nagpur, India and possibly other LMIC contexts. Funding Sources This study was funded by the Thrasher Research Fund grant.
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