Animal Source Foods - Adequate Food for All - page 190

that inhibit micronutrient absorption, such as fiber and phytate, negatively predicted
the children's growth (Grillenberger et al. 2006).
C of g n i t i v e f u n C t i o n a n D s C h o o L P e r f of r m a n C e
Malnutrition can impair cognitive development, school performance, and physical
activity, which has a negative impact on productivity, not only of individuals, but
also collectively, of societies and whole nations, particularly in developing countries
and among disadvantaged communities in affluent nations (Neumann et al. 2002).
More details on the effects of nutrient deficiencies on cognitive function can be found
in Chapter 11. Animal source foods are a good source of bioavailable nutrients, such
as iron, zinc, and vitamin B 12 , needed for optimal cognitive function, activity, atten-
dance, and school performance. Findings from the Human Nutrition Collaborative
Support Program, a longitudinal observational study in Egypt, Kenya, and Mexico
on the relation of intake of animal source foods and child development, indicated that
the mother's intake of animal source foods had positive effects on infant alertness,
newborn's orientation, and habituation behavior. Animal source foods positively pre-
dicted children's developmental outcomes, behavior, verbal ability, and involvement
in classroom activities (Neumann et al. 2002).
Findings from another study in Kenya showed that supplementation with food,
including animal source foods, had positive effects on the children's cognitive per-
formance (Whaley et al. 2003). However, these effects differed across domains of
cognitive functioning, and the different types of supplements did not show the same
beneficial effects. Children receiving a snack with meat significantly performed
better on the Raven's Progressive Matrices than any other group. The Raven's is
widely used as a culturally reduced test of fluid intelligence, thus tapping into on-
the-spot reasoning and problem-solving ability as opposed to accumulated factual
knowledge. This suggests that increasing energy intake alone is not sufficient for
improving cognitive performance, and that the quality of the diet is important. In
addition, meat and milk supplementation do not appear to be interchangeable—
the snack containing meat had a greater impact than the supplement with milk in
problem-solving ability. In contrast, supplementation of any kind had no impact on
verbal performance, a skill that is generally believed to illustrate the accumulation of
factual knowledge and is in the category of crystallized intelligence. The results of
the intervention study indicate that both diet quality and diet quantity are important
predictors of arithmetic performance as children supplemented with meat or energy
performed better than the children who did not receive supplementation. In addition,
children supplemented with energy performed better than the children supplemented
with milk. These findings confirm results of past studies that suggested that animal
source foods were an important correlate of cognitive performance, but this was the
first experimental demonstration of the efficacy of meat supplementation for child
cognitive performance (Whaley et al. 2003). The improved cognitive performance
in the children receiving meat may be linked to greater intake of vitamin B 12 and
more available iron and zinc as a result of the presence of meat, which in addition to
providing iron and zinc increases their absorption from fiber and phytate-rich plant
staples. Meat, through its intrinsic micronutrient content and other constituents and