Agriculture Reference
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in another cohort of Peruvian children with low intakes of complementary foods
(Marquis et al. 1997). Animal protein intake was correlated with height-for-age in
Korean children, whereas fat intake was a more important factor for weight-for-age
and weight-for-height (Paik et al. 1992). In a study in Latin American children, avail-
ability of dairy products, oils, and meats were negatively related to underweight, and
protein, total fat, total energy, and animal fat were negatively related to stunting; it
was concluded that animal source foods are important to support the normal growth
of children (Uauy et al. 2000).
A number of controlled studies showed positive effects of supplementation with
milk or milk products on children's weight (Malcolm 1970, Golden and Golden
1981, Lampl et al. 1987, Heikens et al. 1989, Walker et al. 1991, Schroeder et al.
1995), height (Malcolm 1970, Baker et al. 1980, Zumrawi et al. 1981, Lampl et al.
1987, Heikens et al. 1989, Walker et al. 1991, Schroeder et al. 1995), and bone health
(Köhler et al. 1984, Lampl et al. 1987, Bonjour et al. 1997, Cadogan et al. 1997,
Merrilees et al. 2000), whereas others did not show any effect on growth (Elwood
et al. 1981, Köhler et al. 1984, Chan et al. 1995). However, interpretation of find-
ings from these studies is complicated by the inability to accurately determine if
increases in energy, protein, or micronutrients were responsible for the outcome
observed. Controlled supplementation studies with other animal source foods than
milk are scarce. A trial in which dry fish powder was added to fermented maize por-
ridge did not improve growth or micronutrient status of Ghanaian children (Lartey
et al. 1999).
A controlled food supplementation study in Kenyan schoolchildren showed that
weight gain was significantly higher in children receiving any of three isoenergetic
food supplements (with or without animal source foods). The supplementation with
the snack plus milk resulted in improved height gain in children who were more
stunted, probably because there is more scope for improvement in their growth.
Children receiving the meat supplement gained more mid-upper-arm muscle area
(MMA) (i.e., lean body mass) than those in the other groups. These observed posi-
tive effects of the food supplementation with meat could have been due to the higher
intakes of complete protein or bioavailable zinc and iron. Zinc supplementation
has been shown in some studies to increase lean body mass in children, possibly
through its effects on protein metabolism or stimulation of appetite (Grillenberger
et al. 2003, Neumann et al. 2007). Iron and protein are essential to myoglobin
synthesis in striated muscle (Neumann et al. 2007). Children who received the
snack with meat were more active than the other children, and since a positive
association was found between MMA and percentage of time spent in high levels
of physical activity in children who received the meat supplement (Neumann et al.
2007), this could be another explanation why the children in the meat group gained
more muscle mass than the other children. No effect of the food supplements was
found on measures of body fat, probably because no extra energy was available to
be stored (Grillenberger et al. 2003).
The study in Kenyan children further showed that growth was positively predicted
by energy and nutrients that are provided in high amounts and a bioavailable form in
meat and milk, such as heme iron, preformed vitamin A, calcium, and vitamin B
12
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In contrast, nutrients predominantly found in plant foods and dietary components
