My dream is to break the vicious circle of poverty and poor nutrition

The indisputable link between poverty, nutrition and health has been strengthened by the corona pandemic. Still, Professor Bee Koon Poh, long-standing researcher into childhood nutrition, persists in her dream for the future: “I want healthy children to grow up into healthy adults”.

Healthy nutrition is about balance, moderation, and variety

For Professor Bee Koon Poh, a researcher at University Kebangsaan in Malaysia it is clear that if children don’t get the nutrition they need, they won’t grow and develop properly. “Healthy nutrition is about balance, moderation, and variety. An ideal diet should consist of fruit, vegetables, rice and proteins, with at least two servings of dairy products per day. Research shows that stunted children with an unbalanced diet are more likely to suffer from anemia and iron deficiency. Poor nutrition also has a negative impact on children’s cognition and therefore on their future lives.”

Repeated pattern

The pandemic has made things worse. “Recently, UNICEF reported that corona has caused the biggest global crisis for children in 75 years. Many workers lost their jobs and people have begun going hungry. If children are not properly nourished for a long time, it affects their development. A vicious circle is created that extends to future generations: if children are malnourished now, there is a bigger chance that this pattern will be repeated with their own children. It's a worrying situation that requires better understanding.”

Local nutritional status and lifestyle behaviours

To gain insights, FrieslandCampina initiated SEANUTS II (Southeast Asia Nutrition Surveys II) with Professor Bee Koon Poh as the principal investigator in Malaysia. SEANUTS II is a nutrition and health study among more than 13,000 children up to twelve years old in Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand to gain insights into local nutritional status and lifestyle behaviours. “We are measuring the nutrition and health status of children in many different ways, including body measurements, blood profile, micronutrient deficiencies, and food habits, but also environmental factors, like ‘do you have a proper toilet in your house?”

Vitamin D in milk

“SEANUTS II allows us to link overall children’s health to nutritional status and gives us very useful insights. For example, based on the results of the first SEANUTS research, FrieslandCampina decided to add vitamin D to their milk, as many children suffered from a vitamin D insufficiency. Later, most milk on the market was fortified with vitamin D. In SEANUTS II, we measured vitamin D again to see if there are any changes in the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and hope to share the first results during the SEANUTS II conference later this year.”

Dream

“The best thing that could happen is that all children in the world have access to good nutrition and will grow up to become healthier adults. Then they will experience better education, much more self-empowerment, a better income, and a better overall nutrition status. My dream for the future is that the vicious circle of poverty and poor nutrition will be broken. With the better food availability and development of products that suit children’s needs and increasing access to healthy nutrition, we are taking steps in the right direction.”