Animal products such as milk, eggs or fish (IMAGE) can reduce the risk of serious malnutrition in children in Africa. Credit: A Galla/ ZEF.

A joint Kenya/ Germany study shows that milk, eggs and fish are good for child development in African countries.

This has been demonstrated in a recent study by the CABI‘s regional centre for Africa in Nairobi, Kenya and the University of Bonn.

The researchers used representative data from five African countries with over 32,000 child observations.

If the children had a diet containing animal products, they suffered less from malnutrition and related developmental deficiencies.

Stunting

Almost 150 million children under the age of five around the world suffer from serious growth and developmental disorders.

This is also described as ‘stunting’ in scientific circles and is caused by an insufficient supply of essential nutrients.

Stunting not only causes children to have a shorter stature but is also related to impaired mental development and increased child mortality rates.

Studies have shown that the consumption of meat, milk products, eggs, and fish can reduce the risk of these developmental deficits.

“However, no reliable scientific evidence of these effects had been produced up to now in Africa,” explained CABI’s Dr Makaiko Khonje.

This is now no longer the case after the completion of this latest study in which Khonje and Professor Dr Matin Qaim from the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn evaluated data from five African countries.

The data was sourced from representative surveys carried out in Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.

It covered more than 32,000 observations of children aged up to five years old. Many of the boys and girls were examined multiple times over the years.

Significant reduction

The results speak for themselves: If the girl or boy consumed animal products even occasionally, the risk of stunting fell by almost seven percentage points. The consumption of eggs had the largest effect, followed by milk products and fish.

In the case of meat, the developmental effects were positive in some countries but not in others.

The researchers filtered out the influence of other factors such as family income or parental education in their statistical analysis.

The study also showed that fruits, vegetables and pulses were good for growth and development.

Khonje added: “However, the positive effect of a purely plant-based diet was lower than if the child also consumed animal products, especially in rural areas, a sufficient amount of nutritious plant-based food is often not available throughout the year.

“Our results indicate that access to animal-sourced foods should be improved, especially for poorer families, in order to combat malnutrition.”

Different for richer countries

Livestock farming is a driver of global warming. It produces significantly more greenhouse gases than the cultivation of cereals, fruit or vegetables.

Qaim, who is also a member of the transdisciplinary research area (TRA) ‘Sustainable Futures’ and in the PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence, emphasised: “It will only be possible to achieve our climate targets if we significantly reduce the consumption of animal products worldwide.”

Nevertheless, different approaches are required to achieve this goal: “People in Europe and North America consume four times more milk and meat on average than people in Africa.

“Therefore, it is certainly sensible in high-income countries to limit the consumption of animal-sourced food,” Qaim said.

“Yet such a step would further exacerbate the issue of malnutrition in children in poorer populations on the African continent.”

It is also not possible, for example, to transfer the results of the study to a country like Germany, where the consumption of animal products is significantly higher than is recommended for a healthy diet.

The study is published in the journal PNAS.