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Abstract
Substantial, but indirect, evidence suggests that improving nutrition in early childhood
in developing countries is a long-term economic investment. We investigated the direct
effect of a nutrition intervention in early childhood on adult economic productivity.
We obtained economic data from 1424 Guatemalan individuals (aged 25-42 years) between
2002 and 2004. They accounted for 60% of the 2392 children (aged 0-7 years) who had
been enrolled in a nutrition intervention study during 1969-77. In this initial study,
two villages were randomly assigned a nutritious supplement (atole) for all children
and two villages a less nutritious one (fresco). We estimated annual income, hours
worked, and average hourly wages from all economic activities. We used linear regression
models, adjusting for potentially confounding factors, to assess the relation between
economic variables and exposure to atole or fresco at specific ages between birth
and 7 years.
Exposure to atole before, but not after, age 3 years was associated with higher hourly
wages, but only for men. For exposure to atole from 0 to 2 years, the increase was
US$0.67 per hour (95% CI 0.16-1.17), which meant a 46% increase in average wages.
There was a non-significant tendency for hours worked to be reduced and for annual
incomes to be greater for those exposed to atole from 0 to 2 years.
Improving nutrition in early childhood led to substantial increases in wage rates
for men, which suggests that investments in early childhood nutrition can be long-term
drivers of economic growth.