The climatic impact on children’s diets can undermine food security efforts

Warming temperatures and more variable rainfall are reducing nutritional diversity among children in many countries around the world – and may even undermine efforts to improve food security.

Meredith Niles of the University of Vermont and her colleagues analyzed health survey results from more than 107,000 children in 19 countries – Asia; North, Southeast and West Africa; and Central and South America. The surveys were carried out between 2005 and 2009.

The surveys quantified the diversity of a child’s diet using a rating based on their intake.