The Incidence of Micronutrient Intake on Cognitive Development in Children Under 5 Years of Age: A Cross-sectional Study for the Ecuadorian Case

Abstract

Analyzing the relationship between micronutrient powder intake from 6 months of age and cognitive development in children contributes significantly to the literature since nutritional status is one of the determinants of health and cognitive and psychosocial development in early childhood. Malnutrition at these stages may cause imbalances between nutritional needs that could lead to malnutrition and influence cognitive development. We used a representative sample of 3877 children aged 3-5 years from the 2018 National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUT). We used a linear regression and binary logistic regression model where we estimated the Odds Ratio (OR) and marginal impacts with their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for each of the independent variables. Our results show that the odds ratio (OR) associated with the micronutrient intake variable is significant and greater than 1. This demonstrates that a child who consumes micronutrient powder between 6 months and 2 years of age is approximately 1.56 times more likely (CI=1.35- 1.85) to have high cognitive development. In addition, boys are more likely to have higher cognitive development, with an OR of 1.592 (CI=1.341- 1.978). Another important finding is that a greater number of siblings at home reduces 1.032 times the probability of having high cognitive development. Our data also reveal that the mother's age (very young) may decrease the risk of high cognitive development, while the number of hours of play causes an opposite effect, as the OR reveals that children with a higher number of hours of play are 1.68 times more likely to have high cognitive development. Based on our findings, we can determine that it is important to explore the neurodevelopmental processes that may be involved in malnutrition. Thus, in this article, we recommend the importance of micronutrient intake and a balanced diet as key factors for proper cognitive development.