Can Feeding a Millet-Based Diet Improve the Growth of Children?—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Undernutrition, such as stunting and underweight, is a major public health concern, which requires multi-sectoral attention. Diet plays a key role in growth and should optimally supply all required nutrients to support the growth. While millets (defined broadly to include sorghum) are traditional fo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Nutrients |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/1/225 |
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| author | Seetha Anitha David Ian Givens Kowsalya Subramaniam Shweta Upadhyay Joanna Kane-Potaka Yakima D. Vogtschmidt Rosemary Botha Takuji W. Tsusaka Swamikannu Nedumaran Hemalatha Rajkumar Ananthan Rajendran Devraj J. Parasannanavar Mani Vetriventhan Raj Kumar Bhandari |
| author_facet | Seetha Anitha David Ian Givens Kowsalya Subramaniam Shweta Upadhyay Joanna Kane-Potaka Yakima D. Vogtschmidt Rosemary Botha Takuji W. Tsusaka Swamikannu Nedumaran Hemalatha Rajkumar Ananthan Rajendran Devraj J. Parasannanavar Mani Vetriventhan Raj Kumar Bhandari |
| author_sort | Seetha Anitha |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Undernutrition, such as stunting and underweight, is a major public health concern, which requires multi-sectoral attention. Diet plays a key role in growth and should optimally supply all required nutrients to support the growth. While millets (defined broadly to include sorghum) are traditional foods, and climate smart nutritious crops, which are grown across Africa and Asia, they have not been mainstreamed like rice, wheat, and maize. Diversifying staples with millets can potentially provide more macro and micro nutrients, compared to the mainstream crops. However, there is little known scientific evidence to prove millets’ efficacy on growth. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to collate evidence of the benefits of millets in improving the growth of children. Eight eligible randomized feeding trials were included in the meta-analysis. Results from the randomized effect model showed a significant effect (<i>p</i> < 0.05) of millet-based diets on mean height (+28.2%) (<i>n</i> = 8), weight (<i>n</i> = 9) (+26%), mid upper arm circumference (<i>n</i> = 5) (+39%) and chest circumference (<i>n</i> = 5) (+37%) in comparison to regular rice-based diets over for the period of 3 months to 4.5 years, which was based on largely substituting rice with millets. When an enhanced and diverse diet was served, replacing rice with millet had only minimal growth improvement on chest circumference (<i>p</i> < 0.05). The quality assessment using GRADE shows that the evidence used for this systematic review and meta-analysis had moderate quality, based on eight scoring criteria. These results demonstrate the value of adding millet as the staple for undernourished communities. Further understanding of the efficacy of millets on growth in a wider range of diets is important to develop appropriate dietary programs and improve the nutritional status of various age groups across Africa and Asia. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:27:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-76611c5eb758496d97db713354d324b3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-6643 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:27:02Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nutrients |
| spelling | doaj.art-76611c5eb758496d97db713354d324b32023-11-23T12:06:07ZengMDPI AGNutrients2072-66432022-01-0114122510.3390/nu14010225Can Feeding a Millet-Based Diet Improve the Growth of Children?—A Systematic Review and Meta-AnalysisSeetha Anitha0David Ian Givens1Kowsalya Subramaniam2Shweta Upadhyay3Joanna Kane-Potaka4Yakima D. Vogtschmidt5Rosemary Botha6Takuji W. Tsusaka7Swamikannu Nedumaran8Hemalatha Rajkumar9Ananthan Rajendran10Devraj J. Parasannanavar11Mani Vetriventhan12Raj Kumar Bhandari13Smart Food Initiative, International Crops Research Center for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad 502324, IndiaInstitute for Food, Nutrition and Health, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6EU, UKFood Science and Nutrition, Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore 641043, IndiaUnited Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Lilongwe 30375, MalawiSmart Food Initiative, International Crops Research Center for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad 502324, IndiaInstitute for Food, Nutrition and Health, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6EU, UKDevelopment Strategy and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Lilongwe P.O. Box 31666, MalawiOstrom Center for Advanced Studies on Natural Resources Governance, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani 12120, ThailandEnabling Systems Transformation (EST), International Crops Research Center for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad 502324, IndiaNational Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad 500007, IndiaNational Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad 500007, IndiaNational Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad 500007, IndiaGene Bank, International Crops Research Center for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad 502324, IndiaNational Technical Board of Nutrition, Government of India (GoI), New Delhi 110001, IndiaUndernutrition, such as stunting and underweight, is a major public health concern, which requires multi-sectoral attention. Diet plays a key role in growth and should optimally supply all required nutrients to support the growth. While millets (defined broadly to include sorghum) are traditional foods, and climate smart nutritious crops, which are grown across Africa and Asia, they have not been mainstreamed like rice, wheat, and maize. Diversifying staples with millets can potentially provide more macro and micro nutrients, compared to the mainstream crops. However, there is little known scientific evidence to prove millets’ efficacy on growth. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to collate evidence of the benefits of millets in improving the growth of children. Eight eligible randomized feeding trials were included in the meta-analysis. Results from the randomized effect model showed a significant effect (<i>p</i> < 0.05) of millet-based diets on mean height (+28.2%) (<i>n</i> = 8), weight (<i>n</i> = 9) (+26%), mid upper arm circumference (<i>n</i> = 5) (+39%) and chest circumference (<i>n</i> = 5) (+37%) in comparison to regular rice-based diets over for the period of 3 months to 4.5 years, which was based on largely substituting rice with millets. When an enhanced and diverse diet was served, replacing rice with millet had only minimal growth improvement on chest circumference (<i>p</i> < 0.05). The quality assessment using GRADE shows that the evidence used for this systematic review and meta-analysis had moderate quality, based on eight scoring criteria. These results demonstrate the value of adding millet as the staple for undernourished communities. Further understanding of the efficacy of millets on growth in a wider range of diets is important to develop appropriate dietary programs and improve the nutritional status of various age groups across Africa and Asia.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/1/225heightweightinfant growthadolescent growthmillets |
| spellingShingle | Seetha Anitha David Ian Givens Kowsalya Subramaniam Shweta Upadhyay Joanna Kane-Potaka Yakima D. Vogtschmidt Rosemary Botha Takuji W. Tsusaka Swamikannu Nedumaran Hemalatha Rajkumar Ananthan Rajendran Devraj J. Parasannanavar Mani Vetriventhan Raj Kumar Bhandari Can Feeding a Millet-Based Diet Improve the Growth of Children?—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Nutrients height weight infant growth adolescent growth millets |
| title | Can Feeding a Millet-Based Diet Improve the Growth of Children?—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis |
| title_full | Can Feeding a Millet-Based Diet Improve the Growth of Children?—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis |
| title_fullStr | Can Feeding a Millet-Based Diet Improve the Growth of Children?—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Can Feeding a Millet-Based Diet Improve the Growth of Children?—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis |
| title_short | Can Feeding a Millet-Based Diet Improve the Growth of Children?—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis |
| title_sort | can feeding a millet based diet improve the growth of children a systematic review and meta analysis |
| topic | height weight infant growth adolescent growth millets |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/1/225 |
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