A very interesting article was listed in news-medical.net this week. The open access article called ‘Animal-sourced foods improve child nutrition in Africa’ by Khonje and Qaim used representative data from five African countries—Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda—to show that the consumption of animal-sourced foods (ASF) contributes to improving child nutritional outcomes and that these positive effects cannot always be provided by plant-based foods alone. This counters the general calls to reduce ASF consumption for more sustainability. The authors consider that this call to lower consumption of ASF is not fully applicable to Africa, where average ASF consumption is low.
The article compares the effect on the health of children of the consumption of ASF and nutritious plant-based foods (NPBF) such as legumes, fruit and vegetables. Stunting is more common in Africa where nutrition for children is often inadequate and consumption of ASF is low. Consumption of NPSF does not reduce the likelihood of stunting as much as consumption of ASF. Eggs are the most effective ASF for increasing the height of children and reducing stunting. The authors also make the point that ASF is more likely to be available year-round. Much nutritious plant-based food is seasonable and less available in rural Africa due to poor infrastructure and refrigeration facilities.
While malaria is not mentioned in the article, in earlier posts and in my book ‘Malaria is Spread by Mosquitos?’ I have referred to the fact that incidence of malaria is linked to malnutrition. I have little doubt that if a study were carried out of the effect of the incidence of malaria on consumption of ASF it would have a very positive and statistically significant result.