A study conducted by a group of scientists in Ecuador published on-line in the BBC News has revealed that an egg a day might help undernourished young children grow to a healthy height. Whether soft or hard-boiled, fried or whisked into an omelette, eggs appeared to give infants a boost. It could be a cheap way to prevent stunting, say researchers in the journal Pediatrics.
Lora Iannotti and her colleagues set up a field experiment in the rural highlands of Ecuador and gave very young children (aged six to nine months) free eggs to eat to see if this might help.
160 youngsters took part in the randomised trial. Half of them were fed an egg a day for six months - the others were monitored for comparison. The researchers visited the children's families every week to make sure they were sticking to the study plan and to check for any problems or side-effects.
Stunting was far less common among the egg treatment group by the end of the study - the prevalence was 47% less than in the non-egg group, even though relatively more of these egg-fed infants were considered short for their age at the start of the study.
Lead researcher Ms Iannotti said: "We were surprised by just how effective this intervention proved to be."And what's great is it's very affordable and accessible for populations that are especially vulnerable to hidden hunger or nutritional deficiency."She said eggs were great food for young children with small stomachs."Eggs contain a combination of nutrients, which we think is important."
Prof Mary Fewtrell, nutrition lead at the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, said: "In a way, it is surprising that more research has not been conducted using egg in this situation.
"Egg is a good nutritious complementary food that can be introduced as part of a varied diet once the mother decides to start complementary feeding - never before four months."
She said eggs should always be well cooked to avoid any potential infection risk.
Meanwhile, the WHO recommends mothers worldwide to exclusively breastfeed infants for the child's first six months to achieve optimal growth, development and health. After the first six months, infants should be given nutritious complementary foods and continue breastfeeding up to the age of two years or beyond.
