Health trials: Adding even small amounts of animal-derived foods such as meat and milk can profoundly improve the health of children in chronically deprived countries. Trials have shown the children will have better mental function and stronger immune systems when animal protein is added to the diet.
Many children in the developing world lacked essential trace nutrients and vitamins that led to a condition known as "micronutrient malnutrition" despite consuming enough calories through maize, beans and other vegetable-based foods, said Montague Demment of Global Livestock CRSP, at the AAAS annual science meeting which ended yesterday in Washington.
Dr Lindsay Allen of the US Department of Agriculture Western Human Nutritional Research Centre said a two-year trial in Kenya showed that children receiving small but daily amounts of meat and milk had 80 per cent more muscle mass than those not receiving the enhanced diet. Cognitive ability, described as "fluid intelligence", was improved and the children receiving animal protein were more active, alert and playful, she said.