Nutrition essential in addressing reduced cognitive performance among children

Delays in growth and development among children due to the impact of pandemic restrictions can be addressed through both stimulation and nutrition, according to pediatric experts.  

Ninety percent of a child’s brain development happens during the first five years of their lives, according to Dr. Sean Deoni, associate professor of pediatrics and diagnostic imaging at Brown University and co-author of a study that found that children born during the pandemic have “significantly reduced” verbal, motor, and overall cognitive performance compared to children born pre-pandemic. 

“If you do not have stimulation, you do not myelinate,” he said, referring to a process by which the nervous system wraps certain nerves with fat and protein. “You also need nutrition to lay down that myelin, so you need both.”

The more myelination an individual has, the quicker their response is to stimuli.    

“An increase of 36% percent in myelin can lead to faster language development, together with proper nutrition and stimulation,” Dr. Deoni said at a Jan. 26 event organized by Promil, a milk formula brand under Wyeth Nutrition.

Citing a pediatric neuroimaging study, he added that combining optimal stimulation with good nutrition improves myelination by up to 40%. 

Dr. Ryan Carvalho, chief medical officer and global head of Wyeth’s Nutrition Product Development Center, said that nutrients such as docosahezaenic acid and milk oligosaccharides can help in the development of a child’s memory, learning, and cognitive skills. 

These — along with nutritional stalwarts including zinc, iodine, choline, lutein, and vitamins A, B, and D — “ensure that children get the right nutrition from the start,” he said. 

“Nutrition is very important when it comes to children, because it takes great interactions and great nutrition that really raise children to achieve their full potential,” he added. — P. B. Mirasol