Title
La Niña weather impacts dietary patterns and dietary diversity among children in the Peruvian Amazon
Date Issued
01 August 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Ambikapathi R.
Lee G.O.
Zaitchik B.
Yori P.P.
Bauck A.
Caulfield L.E.
Biomedical Investigations Unit AB PRISMA
Biomedical Investigations Unit AB PRISMA
Publisher(s)
Cambridge University Press
Abstract
Objective: In 2011-2012, severe El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions (La Niña) led to massive flooding and temporarily displacement in the Peruvian Amazon. Our aims were to examine the impact of this ENSO exposure on child diets, in particular: (1) frequency of food consumption patterns, (2) the amount of food consumed (g/d), (3) dietary diversity (DD), (4) consumption of donated foods, among children aged 9-36 months living in the outskirts of City of Iquitos in the Amazonian Peru. Design: This was a longitudinal study that used quantitative 24-h recall dietary data collection from children aged 9-36 months from 2010 to 2014 as part of the MAL-ED birth cohort study. Setting: Iquitos, Loreto, Peru. Participants: Two hundred and fifty-two mother-child dyads. Results: The frequency of grains, rice, dairy and sugar in meals reduced by 5-7 %, while the frequency of plantain in meals increased by 24 % after adjusting for covariates. ENSO exposure reduced girl's intake of plantains and sugar. Despite seasonal fluctuations in the availability of fruits, vegetables and fish, DD remained constant across seasons and as children aged. However, DD was significantly reduced under moderate La Niña conditions by 0·32 (P < 0·05) food groups. Adaptive social strategies such as consumption of donated foods were significantly higher among households with girls. Conclusions: This is the first empirical study to show differential effect of the ENSO on the dietary patterns of children, highlighting differences by gender. Public health nutrition programmes should be climate- and gender-sensitive in their efforts to safeguard the diets of vulnerable populations.
Start page
3477
End page
3487
Volume
24
Issue
11
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ecología
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85095428108
PubMed ID
Source
Public Health Nutrition
ISSN of the container
13689800
Sponsor(s)
The Etiology, Risk Factors and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development Project (MAL-ED) is carried out as a collaborative project supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foundation for the NIH and the National Institutes of Health/Fogarty International Center. Ramya Ambikapathi was funded by the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT), Environment, Energy, Sustainability andHealth Institute fellowship (E2SHI), a Department of International Health Tuition Scholarship, and a travel award from the JHSPH Center for Global Health. Margaret Kosek was supported by the Sherrilyn and Ken Fisher Center for Environmental Diseases at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Acknowledgements: The authors acknowledge and are grateful for the collaboration and support of the families and children of the MAL-ED cohort and the dedication of the field teams that taken together are the foundation of this work. Financial support: The Etiology, Risk Factors and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development Project (MAL-ED) is carried out as a collaborative project supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foundation for the NIH and the National Institutes of Health/Fogarty International Center. Ramya Ambikapathi was funded by the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT), Environment, Energy, Sustainability and Health Institute fellowship (ESHI), a Department of International Health Tuition Scholarship, and a travel award from the JHSPH Center for Global Health. Margaret Kosek was supported by the Sherrilyn and Ken Fisher Center for Environmental Diseases at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Conflict of interest: None. Authorship: R.A. conceptualised the design and methods; R.A., M.N.K., P.P.Y., M.P.O. and L.C. conducted the research activities; R.A. analysed data, performed statistical analysis and wrote the paper. A.B. and L.C. lead the translation of dietary data to nutrient intakes. G.L., B.Z. and L.C. gave oversight on the statistical methods. M.N.K., P.P.Y. and M.P.O. provided a contextual interpretation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Ethics of human subject participation: This study was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki and all procedures involving research study participants were approved by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (USA) and Asociación Benéfica PRISMA (Peru). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. 2
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