Children Are 20 Cm Shorter Due to Poor Diet: A New Study
Regions like South East Asia and Africa Are Most Affected by Inadequate Diet and Nutrients
Poor diet with less amount of required nutrition in school-going children could possibly contribute towards an average gap in the height of around 20cm, which is equivalent to 7.9 inches, according to a recent analytic study. The research reports that in the year 2019, the tallest boy with the age of 19 years is residing in the Netherlands with his height of 183.8cm. In comparison, the shortest boy lived in Timor Leste with his height of 160.1cm.
Poor diet and reduced nutritional amount
The global height ranking of the United Kingdom has fallen, with 19 years old young adults being classified as 39th in the ranking for taller children in 2019 with a height of 1.78m. In the year 1985, the United Kingdom ranking was at the 28th tallest across the globe. The decrease in height could possibly be due to poor diet and inadequate nutrient consumption.
According to the research team, the tracking of height and weight changes in children worldwide and over the course of the time period is an important task as it reflects the quality of the nutrition being provided to the children along with the healthy environment aspect of young adults and children.
In the investigative study regarding poor diet and nutrition, the research team was able to run analysis on the information of more than 65 million adolescents and children ranging from the age of 5 to 19 years along with more than 2000 previously conducted studies between the years 1985 till 2019.
During the analysis, it was observed that in 2019, the average children population located in the central and north-western regions of Europe were among some of the tallest children across the world, and the decline in average height could possibly be due to inadequate poor diet and malnutrition. Meanwhile, the data collected regarding the shortest average children’s height was found in locations like East Africa, Latin America, South, and Southeast Asia.
The last year’s analysis on average global height suggests that 19 years old boys residing in Laos had the same height as a 13-year-old male in the Netherlands, which was 162.8cm. The 19 years old females living in Bangladesh, Guatemala, Timor Leste, and Nepal had an average height of 152cm, which was the same as 11 years old girls in the Netherlands.
The largest improvement in average height was found to be in the regions like South Korea and China in the last 35, which is due to improvement in previous poor diets and intake of less nutritional supply. In multiple countries located in the sub-Saharan African region, the average heights in the children remained unchanged or have further reduced since the year 1985, which is mostly due to a reduced amount of proper food availability and poor diet.
Healthy amount of weight gain
During the research analysis, the researchers also took the BMI (body mass index) of the children along with their height as it would help in indicting if the person has the required amount of weight with respect to their height, as BMI tend to be less due to inadequate and poor diet. The analysis helps in observing that older age teenagers with increased body mass index were mostly living in regions like New Zealand, United States, Middle East, and the Pacific Islands.
Meanwhile, the lowest level of BMI in 19 years old male and female population resides in countries located in South East Asia like Bangladesh and India, which was due to reduced intake of fruits and vegetables and poor diet plan. The research concluded that a broad estimate between the lowest and highest body mass index among the same age children shows an equivalent difference of around 25kg.
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