Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2003 Jun;157(6):593-600.
doi: 10.1001/archpedi.157.6.593.

Malnutrition at age 3 years and lower cognitive ability at age 11 years: independence from psychosocial adversity

Jianghong Liu  1 , Adrian Raine, Peter H Venables, Cyril Dalais, Sarnoff A Mednick
Affiliations

Malnutrition at age 3 years and lower cognitive ability at age 11 years: independence from psychosocial adversity

Jianghong Liu et al. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2003 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Early malnutrition is linked to poor cognition, but long-term effects have not been extensively examined and psychosocial confounds have not always been controlled.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that malnutrition at age 3 years will be associated with poorer cognitive ability at age 11 years independent of psychosocial confounds.

Design: A prospective, longitudinal study of a birth cohort of 1559 children originally assessed at age 3 years for malnutrition (low hemoglobin level, angular stomatitis, kwashiorkor, and sparse, thin hair) and followed up to age 11 years.

Setting and participants: A community sample of 1559 children (51.4% boys and 48.6% girls) born between September 1, 1969, and August 31, 1970, in 2 towns in the island of Mauritius, with 68.7% Indians and 25.7% Creoles (African origin).

Main outcome measures: Verbal and spatial ability measured at ages 3 and 11 years and reading, scholastic ability, and neuropsychologic performance measured at age 11 years.

Results: Malnourished children had poorer cognition at both ages. Deficits were stable across time, applied to all sex and ethnic groups, and remained after controlling for multiple measures of psychosocial adversity. Children with 3 indicators of malnutrition had a 15.3-point deficit in IQ at age 11 years.

Conclusions: Malnutrition at age 3 years is associated with poor cognition at age 11 years independent of psychosocial adversity. Promoting early childhood nutrition could enhance long-term cognitive development and school performance, especially in children with multiple nutritional deficits.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Verbal (A), performance (B), and full-scale (C) cognitive ability at ages 3 and 11 years in the malnourished and control groups.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Dose-response relationship between number of malnutrition indicators present and verbal, spatial, and full-scale cognitive ability at age 3 years (A) and age 11 years (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Galler JR, Ramsey FC, Morley DS, Archer E, Salt P. The long-term effects of early kwashiorkor compared with marasmus, IV: performance on the national high school entrance examination. Pediatr Res. 1990;28:235–239. - PubMed
    1. Grantham-McGregor S, Ani C. A review of studies on the effect of iron deficiency on cognitive development in children. J Nutr. 2001;131(suppl 2):649S–666S. - PubMed
    1. Lozoff B, Jimenez E, Hagen J, Mollen E, Wolf AW. Poorer behavioral and developmental outcome more than 10 years after treatment for iron deficiency in infancy. Pediatrics. 2000;105:e51. - PubMed
    1. Bennis-Taleb N, Remacle C, Hoet JJ, Reusens B. A low-protein isocaloric diet during gestation affects brain development and alters permanently cerebral cortex blood vessels in rat offspring. J Nutr. 1999;129:1613–1619. - PubMed
    1. Morgane PJ, Austin-LaFrance R, Bronzino JD, et al. Prenatal malnutrition and development of the brain. Neurosci Bio behav Rev. 1993;17:91–128. - PubMed

Publication types