Nutritional supplementation in girls influences the growth of their children: prospective study in Guatemala.
BACKGROUND
Better early childhood nutrition improves schooling, adult health, skills, and wages, but there is little evidence regarding its effect on the next generation.


OBJECTIVE
We assessed whether nutritional supplementation in children aged <7 to 15 y affected their children's nutritional status 29-38 y later.


METHODS
We studied 791 children 0-12 y who were offspring of 401 Guatemalan women who had participated as children in a nutritional supplementation trial in which 2 villages were randomly assigned to receive a nutritious supplement (atole) and 2 were assigned to receive a less-nutritious supplement (fresco). We compared anthropometric indicators between the offspring of mothers exposed to atole and the offspring of mothers exposed to fresco.


RESULTS
Compared with the offspring of women exposed to fresco, the offspring of women exposed to atole had a 116-g (95% CI: 17, 215 g) higher birth weight, were 1.3-cm (0.4, 2.2 cm) taller, had a 0.6-cm (0.4, 0.9 cm) greater head circumference, had a 0.26 (0.09, 0.43) greater height-for-age z score, and had a 0.20 (0.02, 0.39) greater weight-for-age z score. The association for height differed by offspring sex. Sons of women exposed to atole were 2.0-cm (95% CI: 1.0, 3.1 cm) taller than the sons of women exposed to fresco. Supplementation was not associated with 6 other offspring anthropometric indicators that reflect measures of adiposity. Supplementation in boys did not affect their children's anthropometric measures.


CONCLUSIONS
Nutritional supplementation in girls is associated with substantial increases in their offsprings' (more for sons) birth weight, height, head circumference, height-for-age z score, and weight-for-age z score.
Department of Economics and Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6297, USA. jbehrman@econ.upenn.edu
Jere R
JR
Behrman
Maria C
MC
Calderon
Samuel H
SH
Preston
John
J
Hoddinott
Reynaldo
R
Martorell
Aryeh D
AD
Stein
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001827:Body Height; D049628:Body Size; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth / Q000502:physiology*; D006166:Guatemala; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000502:physiology; D010919:Placebos; D011247:Pregnancy; D012885:Skinfold Thickness
D010919:Placebos