In the News: grueling achievement

Research suggests that proper nutrition in the first two years of life is of the utmost importance, influencing not just health but educational achievement and economic status. Eat gruel, go far in life:

In two of the Guatemalan villages, children under the age of 7 were given a gruel made of skim milk powder, sugar and vegetable protein. Children in the other two villages were given a drink that was low in energy and had no protein.

The experiment ran from 1969 to 1977. Then, in 2002-2004, researchers returned to see what had become of their young subjects. The results were unambiguous: The boys, now young men, who were given the gruel for the first two years of their life benefited substantially from improved nutrition. They earned on average wages that were nearly 50 per cent higher than boys who had not been given the supplement.
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It was the first two years that proved critical, according to the study, which was published last month in the British medical journal, the Lancet. The adult earnings of children first given the supplement after age 3 did not show as large an increase.

"The study confirms that the first two years of life are the window of opportunity, when nutrition programs have an enormous impact on a child's development, with life-long benefits," said Reynaldo Martorell, one of the original researchers and professor of international nutrition at Emory University...

Start sharing those protein laden post-workout shakes with the little guys and watch them grow up to be not just big and strong, but smart and successful!