A new review published in the Journal of Nutrition highlights how children’s and adolescents’ nutrition—and its impact on health, learning, and development—is shaped by a complex nutrition ecology that extends beyond individual dietary intake. The paper is part of the Biomarkers of Nutrition for Development: Knowledge Indicating Dietary Sufficiency—BOND-KIDS—Project and focuses on school-aged children and adolescents, an age group that has received less attention than early childhood in nutrition research. The authors describe how nutrition interacts with distal systems, such as climate, geopolitics, and food systems, and proximal systems, including community food environments, health and social services, and school nutrition policies—all mediated through family contexts.
The review emphasizes that these multilevel factors influence children’s growth, physical and mental health, cognitive and socioemotional development, physical activity, and school attendance and behavior. The paper identifies critical research gaps in understanding how nutrition-related interventions function across three key developmental stages: primary school age (5–9 years), early adolescence (10–14 years), and late adolescence (15–19 years). The authors argue that adopting an ecological framework is essential for accurately assessing nutrition interventions and improving outcomes for children and adolescents.
Authors included Maureen M. Black from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and RTI International, Meg M. Bruening from The Pennsylvania State University, Amy Carroll-Scott from Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health, Jayna M. Dave from USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Kristie L. Ebi from the University of Washington, Lora L. Iannotti from Washington University in St. Louis, Susan L. Johnson from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Lorrene D. Ritchie from the Nutrition Policy Institute, University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Elizabeth Y. Jimenez from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Alison L. Steiber from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and Daniel J. Raiten from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health.
The BOND-KIDS project was initiated by the Pediatric Growth and Nutrition Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of the NIH in partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM): Global Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition, and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (Academy). This project was supported in part by federal funds from the USDA, Agricultural Research Service under Cooperative Agreement no. 3092-51000-058-2S and USDA/NIFA grant 2021-68012-3399. The publication of this supplement was made possible by the NICHD, and support for assistance (by BioCentric, Inc.) with editing, proofing, and submitting the manuscripts was also provided by the NICHD. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD or the NIH.