About 150 million children under 5 years old around the world are malnourished, according to the World Health Organization.
Malnourished children end up having an “immature” and incomplete communities of gut bacteria. Because of this, a malnourished child’s growth is stunted.
A new research suggests that a diet rich in bananas, chickpeas and peanuts improves gut bacteria in malnourished children. This gut bacteria would help in kick-starting their growth.
This is what scientists from Washington University, in St Louis, believed could be the cause of poor growth - but not all foods are equally good at fixing the problem.
Researchers had studied the main types of bacteria present in the healthy guts of Bangladeshi children.
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After closely monitoring the children's recovery, one diet stood out - which contained bananas, soy, peanut flour and chickpeas in a paste.
This diet was found to boost gut microbes linked to bone growth, brain development and immune function.
It also used ingredients that were affordable and acceptable to people in Bangladesh.
See more at BBC.
(Image Credit: International Centre for Disease Research)