Importance of Smallstock Products
in Combating Malnutrition

The development of learning and intellectual resources are increasingly seen as essential to development. Poor nutrition limits national intellectual potential. Good nutrition is essential if learning is to occur. Malnutrition in early childhood has serious, long-term consequences because it impedes motor, sensory, cognitive, social and emotional development. A reduced capacity for learning and cognition contributes to the overall problem of poverty. Addressing malnutrition should be central to any strategy aimed at poverty reduction.

The Problem of Malnutrition Protein-Energy Malnutrition Essential Fatty Acids Iodine and Iron References and Further Reading   See also: The Importance of Smallstock The nutritional value of sheep milk

Malnourished children are less likely to perform well in school and more likely to grow into malnourished adults, at greater risk of disease and early death. The problems related to poor nutrition can be significantly reduced through an increased emphasis on smallstock keeping.

Malnutrition and its associated disease conditions can be caused by eating too little, eating too much, or eating an unbalanced diet that lacks necessary nutrients. There are two main types of malnutrition (See in Cleaver, 2006).

The problems of malnutrition, the links with development and the importance of livestock that are discussed below focus particularly on undernutrition - and especially on the potential roles of smallstock in combating the problem.

Malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are linked to:

		High child and maternal mortality rates (involved in more than 50% of child deaths)
		Poor educational outcomes and lower productivity
		High morbidity and mortality from infectious and non-communicable diseases

Four major nutrition disorders are linked to reduced learning capacity and cognition:

		Protein-Energy Malnutrition (PEM)
		Essential fatty acids deficiency
		Iodine deficiency
		Iron deficiency

Although there are a complex set of relationships involved, it is clear that the problems of Protein-Energy Malnutrition (PEM) can to a large extent be reduced through increased consumption of livestock products, especially eggs and milk, but of course also meat.

Smallstock keeping by resource-poor households has a significant potential for reducing the incidence and levels of PEM. Of particular importance are the keeping of poultry for eggs and, in suitable localities, goats for milk production.

There are a number of complex and interlinked factors involved in malnutrition, including food availability, access to food, and food consumption. These factors also work at several levels: global, regional, national, household, and individual.

Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) results from an inadequate intake of protein and calories. PEM is characterized not only by an energy deficit due to a reduction in all macronutrients but also by a deficit in many micronutrients that are normally supplied by these same foods. PEM is an example of the various levels of inadequate protein and energy intake on a continuum between starvation and adequate nourishment. Although infants and children of some developing nations are more likely to exhibit PEM, the problem can occur anywhere in persons of any age.

Clinically, PEM has three forms, defined in the Merck manual as: marasmus (thin and desiccated), kwashiorkor (swollen), and a combined form between the two extremes, marasmic kwashiorkor. The form depends on the balance of non-protein and protein sources of energy, and can be graded as mild, moderate, or severe. Milder forms are particularly likely to be undiagnosed and as a result can lead to long-term problems.

PEM also involves an inadequate intake of many essential nutrients, including vitamins and minerals.

Protein-Energy Malnutrition (PEM) in childhood has been shown to be associated with poor cognition and reduced achievement in school. Studies have shown that PEM is likely to have long-term effects on learning and cognitive abilities. It is likely that the duration of malnutrition is more closely related to children's mental development than short-term problems of reduced protein and energy intake.

Combating PEM must therefore be seen as an important component of any programme of poverty reduction and rural development.

Promoting early childhood nutrition through an increased availability of livestock products, especially eggs and milk, can significantly enhance long-term cognitive development and school performance, especially in children with multiple nutritional deficits.

Nutritional Value of Eggs

The egg is not a complete food as it lacks sugars and vitamin C, but it is rich in other valuable nutrients. Eggs are an important source of protein. They contain essential vitamins and minerals and can make a significant contribution to a healthy diet. Egg protein is of high biological value as it contains all the essential amino acids needed by the human body. Eggs therefore complement other food proteins of lower biological value by providing the amino acids that are in short supply in those foods.

Eggs contain most of the recognised vitamins with the exception of vitamin C. The egg is a good source of all the B vitamins, plus the fat-soluble vitamin A. It also provides useful amounts of vitamin D, as well as some vitamin E.

Eggs contain most of the minerals that the human body requires for health. In particular eggs are an excellent source of iodine, required for thyroid hormones, and phosphorus, required for bone health. The egg provides significant amounts of zinc, important for wound healing, growth and fighting infection; selenium, an important antioxidant; and calcium, needed for bone and growth structure and nervous function. Eggs also contain significant amounts of iron, the vital ingredient of red blood cells.

Nutritional Value of Milk

Milk is a complex, nutritious product that contains more than 100 substances that are either in solution, suspension or emulsion in water. Milk contains important carbohydrates, in the form of lactose, as well as proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals.

The nutritional value of milk as a whole is greater than the value of its individual nutrients because of its unique nutritional balance, designed to provide all of the nutritional requirements of newborn and growing animals. Importantly, it contains approximately 90% water and in all animals all animals, water is the nutrient required in the greatest amount. Milk production is rapidly affected by a water shortage. Production is significantly decreased when a supply of drinking water is limited or unavailable. This is one reason why livestock should have free access to a plentiful supply of clean drinking water at all times.

Both goats and sheep produce high quality milk, and under suitable conditions a range of breeds are capable of providing valuable commercial products with a high nutritional value. Even where commercial production is not feasible, both goats and sheep have the potential to produce valuable dairy products for home or local consumption. Ewe's milk in particular has a higher content of both milk fat and protein than either cow's or goat's milk.

Composition of Different Kinds of Milk

Source: The Nutritional Value of Sheep Milk by George F. W. Haenlein

Essential fatty acids are required by the body for many physiologic processes, including maintaining the integrity of the skin and the structure of cell membranes. Some essential fatty acids are important components of the brain and retina. Deficiency is unlikely to occur on well balanced diets, and although total fat intake may be low in many developing countries, much of these fats are of vegetable origin and are relatively rich in the required fatty acids. Breast milk is a rich source of essential fatty acids for infants, and is important for the development of both the brain and the retina. Goat and sheep milk significantly exceed cow's milk in most short, medium chain, mono-unsaturated, poly-unsaturated and essential fatty acids and are therefore particularly valuable to poor households in developing countries (see in Haenlein, and also in Burgess 2004).

Iodine is a constituent of the thyroid hormones, thyroxine and triiodothyronine, which are essential to human functioning because they influence skeletal maturation and the development of the central nervous system and regulate many other physiological processes. Most people at risk for iodine deficiency live in areas where the soils are low in iodine content due to leaching caused by high rainfall, melting snow, flooding, or glaciation. Mountainous areas are particularly at risk, with severely deficient areas in the Andes, the European Alps, the Himalayas, and mountain ranges in China. All crops grown in iodine-deficient soil are iodine deficient. Salt iodization is recommended in all areas.

The problem of iodine deficiency is especially serious for pregnant women and young children. During pregnancy, even mild iodine deficiency reduces foetal brain development, and results in a permanent reduction in intellectual ability. Iodine deficiency:

• can cause severe mental and physical retardation, known as cretinism.
• in chronic form, can cause goiter (a disorder characterized by swelling of the thyroid gland) in both adults and children.
• impedes fetal brain development. At the population level, the consequence of iodine deficiency is a 10–15% lower average IQ, affecting both social and economic development.

Iron-deficient anaemic children usually have poorer levels of development than non-anaemic children. In adults, iron deficiency affects work capacity and work productivity. Iron deficiency:

• impairs the cognitive development of children.
• damages immune mechanisms, and is associated with increased morbidity rates.
• impairs physical work capacity in both men and women.
• is associated with a range of problems during pregnancy for both mother and infant, including increased risk of sepsis, maternal mortality, perinatal mortality, and low birth weight.

Increased Milk Production in Native Goats: Improving human welfare from milk from Malawi native goats

Haenlein, G. F. W. (1995). Nutritional value of dairy products of ewes and goats milk. Proceedings, 2nd IDF Seminar, Production and Utilization of Ewes and Goats Milk, Limin Hersonissos, Crete, Greece, Oct. 19-21.