A study by the Nursing Care Group of Simón Bolívar University warns the Colombian authorities about the need to work not only on solving the problem of children suffering from malnutrition, but also on providing strategies for infants at risk of suffering from it, and the importance of a balanced diet in the first 2 years of life.

The work, published in the journal 'Venezuelan Archives of Pharmacology and Therapeutics’, becomes important because this Tuesday was the World Food Day declared by the United Nations. The content evaluated between 2014 and 2017 the functionality of the program of nutritional recovery of a foundation, which sheltered 140 children under 5 years living in the municipality of Soledad.

The researchers at Simón Bolivar University used the software Anthro, validated by the World Health Organization (WHO) to analyze indicators of weight, height, type of malnutrition and nutritional risks, as well as the family, social and economic conditions of infants in vulnerable communities and with a high poverty index.

The evaluation found that, upon entering the program, more than 40% of children showed a risk of malnutrition and presented the so-called 'hidden hunger': energy, protein and micronutrient deficiencies, which was why they did not meet the ideal weight and size for their age.

Nutrition is defined by the WHO as the intake of food in relation to the dietary needs of the body. Hence the importance of food that a person has in his/her first two years, since the habits he or she acquires in this period of life tend to last.

"Malnutrition is not only a deficit in nutrient intake, so is the over-nutrition. In both cases there is an alteration in the organism that can compromise the growth, the psychomotor development, the intellectual capacity of the individual and, therefore, their productive capacity and quality of life ", explained Jorge Rodríguez López, researcher at Simón Bolivar University.

The WHO emphasizes that adequate nutrition reduces morbidity and mortality, in addition to slowing the onset of the risk of chronic diseases. "The manifestations of malnutrition can be deficiency or excess, expressed as protein-calorie malnutrition, overweight, obesity and micronutrient deficiency," added Mariela Suárez Villa.

A LATENT RISK. The study carried out by the Nursing Group of Simón Bolivar University found significant achievements in the nutritional program, such as that children under 2 years of age at risk of malnutrition achieved nutritional recovery, by obtaining an adequate weight for their age: 3.4% increased to 19.8%.

Another benefit was that of 32% of the infants, after three years, 64% reached an appropriate size. However, the risk of short stature went from 33% to 53% from boys and girls. And in global malnutrition, from 44.5%, it was reduced to 6.1%. However, the risk of malnutrition increased just like the indicator of short stature: out of the total of children studied, at the beginning 52% showed vulnerability and, in the end, it reached 72%.

"From the nursing care group, the strategies of food safety policy can be strengthened for the welfare of the quality of life of children," said Gloria Lastre Amell, leader of the research group at Simón Bolivar University.

The recommendation arises, precisely, from the weakness in the items on risk, which is why government agencies, academics and health teams are urged to stop the conditions of nutritional deficiencies.

"We must insist on strengthening nutritional education programs to support and monitor the most disadvantaged children at early ages, to measure the biological and social impact, through permanent advice to parents and / or representatives of children," the researchers Gladys Gaviria García and Carmen Carrero pointed out.