Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Economics of Nutritional Interventions

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Nutrition and Health in a Developing World

Part of the book series: Nutrition and Health ((NH))

Abstract

Good nutrition is important for survival—and so that individuals can thrive. Analysis of the economic aspects of nutrition can be used to advocate for more resources for nutrition investments, and to prioritize programming. Improved nutrition brings benefits, including healthcare treatment savings, cognitive benefits, greater educational attainment, and productivity. Many nutrition interventions are modest in cost, such that some nutrition interventions rank very high as public health priorities. We discuss recent data on these topics using the 2013 Lancet series on nutrition. Although undernutrition has been the main focus in low- and middle-income countries, overweight and obesity are growing in these countries. In middle-income countries, costs of overweight and obesity are rapidly overtaking the costs of undernutrition. There needs to be economic analysis undertaken to guide policy on this aspect of nutrition, as well as economic analysis as part of “implementation science” for nutrition interventions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 279.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Black RE, Victora CG, Walker SP, Bhutta ZA, Christian P, De Onis M, Essati J, Grantham-McGregor S, Katz J, Martorell R, Uauy R and the Maternal and Child Nutrition Study Group. Maternal and child undernutrition and overweight in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet. 2013;382:427–51.

    Google Scholar 

  2. http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com. Accessed 12 Sept 2014.

  3. Horta BL, Victora CG. Long-term effects of breastfeeding: a systematic review. Geneva: WHO; 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  4. De-Regil LM, Fernandez-Gaxiola AC, Dowswell T, Pena-Rosas JP. Effects and safety of periconceptional folate supplementation for preventing birth defects. Cochrane Database Sys Rev. 2010;10:CD007950.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Lassi ZS, Salam RA, Haider BA, Bhutta ZA. Folic acid supplementation during pregnancy for maternal health and pregnancy outcomes. Cochrane Database Sys Rev. 2013;3:CD006896.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Zimmermann MB. The effects of iodine deficiency in pregnancy and infancy. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2012;26(supp 1):108–17.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Zimmermann MB, Connolly K, Bozo M, Bridson J, Rohner F, Grimci L. Iodine supplementation improves cognition in iodine-deficient schoolchildren in Albania: a randomized, controlled, double-blind study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006;83:108–14.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Sachdev H, Gera T, Nestel P. Effect of iron supplementation on mental and motor development in children: systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Public Health Nutr. 2005;8:117–32.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Ross J, Horton S. Economic consequences of iron deficiency. Ottawa: Micronutrient Initiative, Technical Paper; 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Imdad A, Herzer K, Mayo-Wilson E, Yakoob MY, Bhutta ZA. Vitamin A supplementation for preventing morbidity and mortality in children from 6 months to 5 years of age. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2010;12:CD008524.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Imdad A, Bhutta ZA. Effect of preventive zinc supplementation on linear growth in children under 5 years of age in developing countries: a meta-analysis of studies for input to the lives saved tool. BMC Public Health. 2011;11(suppl3):S22.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Yakoob MY, Theodoratou E, Jabeen A, et al. Preventive zinc supplementation in developing countries: impact on mortality and morbidity due to diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria. BMC Public Health. 2011;11(suppl3):S23.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Hoddinott J, Maluccio JA, Behrman JR, Flores R, Martorell R. Effect of a nutrition intervention during early childhood on 5 economic productivity in Guatemalan adults. Lancet. 2008;271:411–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Lamberti LM, Fischer Walker CI, Noiman A, et al. Breastfeeding and the risk for diarrhea morbidity and mortality. BMC Public Health. 2011;11(suppl 3):S15.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Lamberti LM, Zakarija-Grkovic I, Fischer Walker CI, et al. Breastfeeding for reducing the risk of pneumonia morbidity and mortality in children under two: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health. 2013;13(suppl 3):S18.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Horta BL, Victora CG. Long-term effects of breastfeeding: a systematic review. Geneva: WHO; 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Bhutta ZA, Das JK, Rizvi A, Gaffey MF, Walker N, Horton S, Webb P, Lartey A, Black RE for Lancet Maternal and Child Nutrition & Interventions Review Group. Evidence based interventions for improving maternal and child nutrition: what can be done and at what cost? Lancet. 2013;382:452–77.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Gao W, Smyth R. Health, human capital, height and wages in China. J Dev Stud. 2010;46:466–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Horton S, Steckel RH. Malnutrition: global economic losses attributable to malnutrition 1900–2000 and projections to 2050. In: Lomborg B, editor. How much have global problems cost the world? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Alderman H, Hoddinott J, Kinsey BH. Long term consequences of early childhood malnutrition. Oxford Economic Papers. 2006;58:450–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Vogl T. Height, skills, and labor market outcomes in Mexico. J Dev Econ. 2014;107:84–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Drummond MF, Schulpher MJ, Torrance GW, O’Brien B, Stoddart GI. Methods for the economic evaluation of health care programs. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford Medical Publications; 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Yi Y, Lindemann M, Colligs A, Snowball C. Economic burden of neural tube defects and impact of prevention with folic acid. Eur J Pediatr. 2011;170(11):1391–400.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Ross J. Profiles guidelines: calculating the effects of malnutrition on economic productivity and survival [mimeo.]. Washington DC: Academy for Educational Development; 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Horton S, Ross J. The economics of iron deficiency. Food Policy. 2003;28(1):51–75. Also Corrigendum. Food Policy 2006;52:141–143.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Olofin I., McDonald CM, Ezzati M, Flaxman S, Black RE, Fawzi WW, Caulfield LE, Danaei G, for the Nutrition Impact Model Study (anthropometry cohort pooling). Associations of suboptimal growth with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in children under five years: a pooled analysis of ten prospective studies. PLoS ONE 2013;8:e64636. Doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064636, http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0064636.

  27. Horton S. The economics of nutritional interventions. In: Semba RD, Bloem M, editors. Nutrition and health in developing countries. 2nd ed. Totowa NJ: Humana Press; 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Martínez R, Fernández A. Model for analysing the social and economic impact of child undernutrition in Latin America. 52. United Nations. Serie manuals 52. 2007. http://www.eclac.cl/publicaciones/xml/5/35645/Serie_manual_52_eng.pdf.

  29. Martinez R, Fernández A. The cost of hunger: social and economic impact of child undernutrition in Central America and the Dominican Republic. United Nations. 2008. http://www.eclac.org/publicaciones/xml/9/32669/DP_CostHunger.pdf.

  30. African Union Commission, NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, UN Economic Commission for Africa, and UN World Food Programme, 2013. The cost of hunger in Africa: social and economic impact of child undernutrition in Egypt, Ethiopia, Swaziland and Uganda. Abridged report. Available at http://www.costofhungerafrica.com. Accessed 12 Sept 2014.

  31. Stricker S, Beretta-Piccoli N, Horton S. The cost of stunting in low and middle income countries. 2014;Unpublished draft.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Bartick M, Reinhold A. The burden of suboptimal breastfeeding in the United States: a pediatric cost analysis. Pediatrics. 2010;125:e1048–56.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Renfrew MJ, Pokhrel S, Quigley M, McCormick F, Fox-Rushby J, Dodds R, et al. Preventing disease and saving resources; the potential contribution of increasing breastfeeding rates in the UK: UNICEF; 2012. Available at: http://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Baby_Friendly/Research/Preventing_disease_saving_resources.pdf?epslanguage=en. Accessed 12 June 2014.

  34. Rollins, N., Bhandari N, Hajeebhoy N, Horton S, Lutter C, Martines JM, Piwoz E, Richter L, Victora C. Breastfeeding in the 21st century: Why invest, and what it will take to improve breastfeeding practices in less than a generation. Lancet Breastfeeding Series Paper 2. 2016;387:491–504.

    Google Scholar 

  35. United National OneHealth model. Available at http://www.futuresinstitute.org/onehealth.aspx.

  36. Horton S, Shekar M, McDonald C, Mahal A. Scaling-up nutrition: what will it cost? Washington, DC: World Bank Directions in Development; 2009.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  37. Bhutta ZA, Ahmed T, Black RE et al, for the Maternal and Child Undernutrition Group. What works? Interventions for maternal and child undernutrition and survival. Lancet 2008;371:417–40.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Murray CJL, Anderson B, Burstein R, Leach-Kemon K, Schneider M, Tardif A, Zhang R. Development assistance for health: trends and prospects. Lancet. 2011;378:8–10.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Laxminarayanan R, Chow J, Shahid-Salles S. Intervention cost-effectiveness: overview of main messages. In: Jamison DT, Alleyne G, Breman J, Claeson M, Evans DB, Jha P, Measham AR, Mills A, editors. Disease control priorities in developing countries. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  40. http://www.jhsph.edu/departments/international-health/centers-and-institutes/institute-for-international-programs/list/index.html. Accessed 12 Sept 2014.

  41. Hoddinott J, Alderman H, Behrman JR, Haddad L, Horton S. The economic rationale for investing in stunting. Matern Child Nutr. 2013;9(S2):69–82.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Popkin B, Horton S, Kim S, Mahal A, Jin A. Diet-related noncommunicable diseases in China and India: the economic costs of the nutrition transition. Nutr Rev. 2001;59:379–90.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Popkin BM, Kim S, Rusev ER, Du S, Zizza C. Measuring the full economic costs of diet, physical activity and obesity-related chronic diseases. Obes Rev. 2006;7:271–93.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Bahia L, Freire Coutinho ES, Barufali LA, de Azevedo Abreu G, Malhão, Ribeiro de Souza CP, Araujo DV. The costs of overweight and obesity-related diseases in the Brazilian public health system:cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. 2012;12:440–6.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Balsillie School of International Affairs, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada

    Susan Horton

Authors
  1. Susan Horton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan Horton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. World Food Programme , Rome, Italy

    Saskia de Pee

  2. School of Public Health, University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    Douglas Taren

  3. World Food Programme, Nutrition Division , Rome, Italy

    Martin W. Bloem

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Horton, S. (2017). Economics of Nutritional Interventions. In: de Pee, S., Taren, D., Bloem, M. (eds) Nutrition and Health in a Developing World . Nutrition and Health. Humana Press, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43739-2_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43739-2_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-43737-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-43739-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation