Understanding the Relationship between Child Malnutrition and Cognitive Development: An Analysis of the Ecuadorian Case

Abstract

The analysis of the relationship between childhood malnutrition and cognitive development in children contributes significantly to the literature, given that nutritional status is recognized as a determinant factor for health and cognitive and psychosocial development during early childhood. Malnutrition at these stages can lead to imbalances in nutritional needs, which, in turn, can influence cognitive development. Our research was based on a representative sample of 4,568 children under 5 years of age from the 2018 National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUT). We used a linear regression model and quantile regressions to estimate heterogeneous relationships in the studied relationship. Our results show that child undernutrition decreases by 0.25 BMI points with respect to those children who did not report child undernutrition. In addition, we have evidence that an increase in BMI at the extremes of the cognitive development distribution (Q0.10 and Q0.90) has a greater effect on children with lower and higher cognitive development.  Another important finding is that males are more likely to have high cognitive development. Likewise, a greater number of siblings at home reduces cognitive development by -0.1032 points. Our data also reveal that more hours in front of the TV could reduce the risk of high cognitive development, while the number of hours of play causes the opposite effect, as the coefficient reveals that children with more hours of play have 0.1034 points less cognitive development. From our findings, the importance of exploring the neurodevelopmental processes involved in malnutrition is highlighted. In this article, we examine the basic psychomotor process, which is characterized by the child's ability to carry out bodily movements and mental representations, as well as symbolic expressions that allow him or her to relate constructively to people and objects.