Unit 2: Health Effects of Complementary Feeding

The key messages about complementary feeding in developing countries are best summarized by a review of 42 papers by Dewey & Adu-Afarwuah in 2008 which reported on the effectiveness of nutritional interventions during the complementary feeding period to prevent negative health outcomes and encompassed literature from 25 developing countries. The authors gave key messages on intervention effectiveness and stated that interventions with messages specifically mentioning the recommendation to introduce animal-source foods more positively affected growth during childhood than general feeding advice or micronutrient fortification (Dewey & Adu-Afarwuah 2008). 

Fortification interventions seemed to improve iron and vitamin A status but were less effective at improving growth. Overall, education about complementary feeding of animal-source foods in combination with the provision of complementary foods in low-resource settings was more effective than education alone (Dewey & Adu-Afarwuah 2008). The authors warned that while the importance of complementary feeding education and provision of foods during this critical period play an important role in decreasing child morbidity and mortality, special care is needed not to inadvertently encourage premature weaning from breast milk (Dewey & Adu-Afarwuah 2008).

As previously mentioned, special attention is needed in developing countries to encourage hygienic feeding practices and continued responsive breast and complementary feeding. For more specific recommendations on the feeding of young children, please see Unit 3.