Peer-reviewed article
Animal-sourced foods improve child nutrition in Africa
Makaiko Gonapanyanja Khonje, Matin Qaim ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study analysed data from over 32,000 children aged 0 to 5 years across five African countries to examine the link between eating animal-sourced foods and child growth. Children whose diets included meat, dairy, eggs, or fish showed better height-for-age scores and were significantly less likely to be stunted compared to those on plant-based diets alone. The findings suggest that improving poor households' access to animal-sourced foods could help reduce undernutrition in Africa, even as food systems move towards sustainability.
Key points
- Animal-sourced food consumption increased mean child height-for-age Z-scores by 0.30 (P < 0.01)
- Stunting likelihood was reduced by 6.8 percentage points with animal-sourced food consumption (P < 0.01)
- Nutritional benefits of diets containing animal-sourced foods are larger than purely plant-based diets
- Plant-based foods like fruits, vegetables, and legumes have positive effects on height-for-age but are not always available year-round in rural areas
- The study used representative panel data from Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda with over 32,000 observations
Limitations
The study is observational and cannot establish causation; other confounding factors not measured may explain the association between animal-sourced food consumption and child height. The research does not address implementation challenges or cost-effectiveness of improving access to these foods in poor households.
Abstract
Child undernutrition remains a widespread public health problem in the Global South, especially in Africa. Childhood stunting—meaning linear growth retardation—is a comprehensive and commonly used indicator of chronic child undernutrition and is mostly the result of insufficient nutrient intake, among other factors. Previous research showed that the consumption of animal-sourced foods (ASF), including meat, dairy, eggs, and fish, is associated with lower rates of child stunting, but reliable evidence for Africa is scant. In Africa, average ASF consumption is low. We use representative panel data from five African countries—Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda—with over 32,000 observations from children aged 0 to 5 y to show that ASF consumption increases mean child height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) by 0.30 ( P < 0.01) and reduces the likelihood of stunting by 6.8 percentage points ( P < 0.01), after controlling for confounding factors. The child nutritional benefits of diets containing ASF are larger than those of purely plant-based diets. Nutritious plant-based foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and legumes, can provide most of the nutrients required and also have positive effects on HAZ, but they are sometimes not available and accessible in sufficient quantities all year round, especially in rural areas. Given the large environmental footprints of livestock farming, initiatives to make food systems more sustainable often call for a strong reduction in ASF consumption. While ASF consumption should be reduced where consumption quantities are high, our results suggest that poor households’ access to ASF in Africa should be further improved to help reduce child undernutrition.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Increased consumption of animal-sourced foods (meat, dairy, eggs, fish) in children's diets
- Population
- Children aged 0 to 5 years in Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda