Recent work in Bangladesh developed a new survey tool to identify adolescent girls in Bangladesh that might be at risk of nutritional deficiency. Analysis of the survey results showed significant deficiencies even in coastal communities that produce considerable quantities of farmed seafood. This was because the seafood itself varies in nutritional value as does different peoples’ access to it.

Micronutrient deficiency, or hidden hunger, is a massive public health issue leading to high costs to society through people being less healthy and productive than they could be. Adolescent girls represent a particularly vulnerable group in Bangladesh, with higher nutritional needs relative to energy requirements than other adult household members, and at the same time likely to have restricted access to food. For this group, an optimal diet is critical for their own health and – in the case of early marriage and motherhood – for their infants.

The prevalence of a deficiency of Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, occurring in a tropical country may be a surprise to some but seasonality, human behaviour and access to vitamin rich seafood can impact on sufficiency of this micronutrient vital for a healthy immune system. The study also considered deficiency in omega 3 fatty acids which are essential for healthy brain development in infants.

The team developed a simple to administer questionnaire which can be completed online or in face to face surveys with resultant nutritional deficiency scoring validated through correlation with blood biomarkers and height/weight data.

Two cross-sectional surveys in both wet and dry season were carried out in Greater Khulna, Southwest Bangladesh involving 300 girls. They found marked variation in micronutrient deficiencies in vulnerable adolescent girls because the seafood itself varies in nutritional value as does different peoples’ access to it. These finding should support practical initiatives to improve the situation in Bangladesh but also has relevance to other poor coastal zone areas around the world where communities depend on producing nutrient-rich seafood.

The Stirling team worked with local partners: icddr,b (led by Ms Gulshan Ara) and Noakhali Science and Technology University (led by Prof. Abdullah-Al Mamun); and international partners: the Rowett Institute University of Aberdeen (led by Prof. Baukje de Roos), University of Copenhagen (Dr Nanna Roos) and the University of Glasgow (Dr Eleanor Grieve) with funding through the Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Action (IMMANA) programme, led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine which is co-funded by the UK government and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The work has resulted in two publications:

Grieve, E., Mamun, A. Al, de Roos, B., Barman, B.K., Ara, G., Roos, N., Pounds, A., Sneddon, A.A., Murray, F., Ahmed, T., Little, D.C., 2023. Adolescent girls in aquaculture ecozones at risk of nutrient deficiency in Bangladesh development and validation of an integrated metric. BMC Public Health 23, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15175-z

Ara, G., Little, D.C., Mamun, A. Al, de Roos, B., Grieve, E., Khanam, M., Hasan, S.M.T., Ireen, S., Ali, S.D., Boitchi, A.B., Dijkhuizen, M.A., Ahmed, T., Roos, N., 2023. Factors affecting the micronutrient status of adolescent girls living in complex agro-aquatic ecological zones of Bangladesh. Sci. Rep. 13, 6631. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33636-8

Material for this blog article was taken from two earlier University of Stirling News Articles:

Tool developed to identify girls at risk of nutritional deficiency (23 March 2023)

Adolescent girls in Bangladesh at risk of nutritional deficiency, study finds (3 May 2023)