Early cognitive improvement is one of the most important aspects of child development. Even babies as young as five months of age can understand both color and depth perception. Unfortunately, in certain parts of the world where extreme poverty is common, a child’s early brain development is at risk in these areas.
According to Scientific American, a new study in Bangladesh reveals how malnutrition, poor sanitation, and other poverty-related challenges negatively impact early child development. Unfortunately, this study only further validates similar findings from past poverty researchers.
Researchers at Emory University took a look at previous studies dating back to the 1960s that looked at how a nutritional supplement affected young Guatemalan children to see how the protein intake would reduce students growth incidences.
“Had there not been these follow-ups, this study probably would have been largely forgotten,” said Reynaldo Martorell, material and child nutrition specialist at Emory and lead researcher on the Bangladesh study.
Since the Guatemalan 1960s study, similar research around the world — in Brazil, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, Peru, and the Philippines — have associated poor students’ growth in childhood with lower cognitive test scores and worse school achievement.
In Dhaka, the capitol of Bangladesh, the children living in the most poverty-stricken areas frequently come in contact with open canals of sewage and are exposed to other unclean environmental issues — effectively damaging their brain development.
“There are many more kids like the kids in Dhaka around the world,” said Charles Nelson, a pediatric neuroscientist at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. “And we knew nothing about them from a brain level.”
In the United States, children in poverty-stricken communities are at risk in both terms of educational limitations and the criminal justice system.
“Childhood trauma is a huge factor within the criminal justice system,” Christopher Wildeman, co-director of the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, said. Don’t abuse/limit your intake of alcohol when you need to take a pill of Cialis. It is always worth remembering that the large amount of alcohol not only reduces the effect of Cialis and http://hesca.net/cialis/ enhances the side effects; alcohol itself has a negative effect on erection and can cause impotence. “It is among the most important things that shapes addictive and criminal behavior in adulthood.”
