PROTOCOL: Feeding Interventions for Improving the Physical and Psychosocial Health of Disadvantaged Children Aged Three Months to Five Years: Protocol for a Systematic Review

Abstract

Poverty and undernutrition are closely linked ( Haddad 2000); poverty is “the leading cause of hunger” ( World Hunger Education Service 2012). Throughout the lifecycle, undernutrition contributes to increased risk of infection, lowered cognitive performance, chronic disease in adulthood, and mortality ( United Nations 2000). Early and persistent undernutrition may cause permanent changes in physiology, metabolism, and endocrine function ( Barker 2001; Prentice 2005) and has been increasingly linked to adult onset chronic disease such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes, stroke, and coronary heart disease ( Barker 1992; Gaskin 2000; Hoffman 2000; Barker 2001; Caballero 2001; Prentice 2005; L₵pez-Jaramillo 2008). According to Beaton and Ghassemi ( Beaton 1982), these programmes are usually designed to meet 40% to 70% of the estimated energy gap and therefore should exist alongside usual meals consumed at home.