The Nutritional Status of Individuals Adopted Internationally as Children: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Since 1955, international adoption has been a way of finding homes for children who have been orphaned or abandoned. We aimed to describe the nutritional status of individuals adopted internationally and their long-term nutritional and health outcomes. We searched four databases for articles published from January 1995 to June 2020, which included information on anthropometric or micronutrient status of children adopted internationally (CAI). Mean Z-scores on arrival to adoptive country ranged from −2.04 to −0.31 for weight for age; −0.94 to 0.39 for weight for height; −0.7 to 0 for body mass index; −1.89 to −0.03 for height for age; −1.43 to 0.80 for head circumference for age. Older children, those adopted from institutionalized care or with underlying disability, were more likely to be malnourished. Though long-term data was scarce, mean Z-scores post-adoption ranged from −0.59 to 0.53 for weight for age; −0.31 to 1.04 for weight for height; 0.39 to 1.04 for body mass index; −1.09 to 0.58 for height for age; −0.06 to 1.23 for head circumference for age. We conclude that though CAI are at high risk of malnutrition at baseline, marked catch-up growth is possible, including for those older than two years of age on arrival. This has implications not only for CAI but for the wider population of malnourished children worldwide. Research on how to optimize catch-up growth is a priority.

The Role of Immunobiotics and Postbiotics in the Recovery of Immune Cell Populations From Respiratory Mucosa of Malnourished Hosts: Effect on the Resistance Against Respiratory Infections

“…Regarding the etiology, GLIM classified malnutrition caused by a chronic disease, distinguishing presence or absence of inflammation, by an acute inflammatory disease or by starvation (for socioeconomic or environmental causes that imply food shortages or hunger) ( 1 , 3 ). While the number of overweight children around the world has remained stagnant for over a decade, 144 million children under the age of 5 were stunted and 47 million suffered from wasting in 2019 ( 4 , 5 ). Furthermore, undernutrition is associated with 45% of deaths among children younger than 5 years old.…”