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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

Erick Boy

researcher spotlight

Erick Boy

Erick Boy is the Chief Nutritionist in the HarvestPlus section of the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. As head of nutrition for the HarvestPlus Program since 2008, he has led research that has generated scientific evidence on biofortified staple crops as efficacious and effective interventions to help address iron, vitamin A, and zinc deficiency in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.

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experts

Nutrition, Diets, and Health

Rebecca Brander

Research Fellow

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Rebecca Brander

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Rebecca Brander is a Research Fellow with the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit, and is based at IFPRI-Nairobi.

Nutrition, Diets, and Health

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Accuracy of using weight and length in children under 24 months to screen for early childhood obesity: A systematic review

2025Boncyk, Morgan; Leroy, Jef L.; Brander, Rebecca L.; Larson, Leila M.; Ruel, Marie T.; Frongillo, Edward A.
Details

Accuracy of using weight and length in children under 24 months to screen for early childhood obesity: A systematic review

The global increase in early childhood overweight and obesity has prompted interest in early prediction of overweight and obesity to allow timely intervention and prevent lifelong consequences. A systematic review was conducted to assess the accuracy and feasibility of predicting overweight and obesity in individual three to seven-year-old children using data available in healthcare and community settings on children under 24 months of age. This review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42024509603) and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. From 7,943 unique articles identified through PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and Google Scholar, 14 studies met the inclusion criteria, 13 from high-income countries and one from a middle-income country. These studies evaluated the accuracy of predicting childhood overweight or obesity in individual children using anthropometrics-alone or multiple-predictor models. Anthropometrics-alone models yielded areas under the curve (AUCs) ≥0.56 with expert guidance and ≥0.77 with machine learning. Multiple-predictor models yielded AUC ≥0.68 with expert guidance and ≥0.76 with machine learning. The inclusion of child, parental, and community predictors improved predictive accuracy but led to greater variation in performance across models. Models were more accurate when children were older at the initial assessment, multiple assessments were made, and the time between assessment and outcome prediction was shorter. Prediction models with an AUC ≥0.70 used machine learning to optimize variable selection, limiting their practicality for broad-scale implementation in healthcare or community settings. There is insufficient evidence on the accuracy of overweight and obesity prediction models for children in low- and middle-income countries. Existing prediction models are not well-suited for broad-scale screening of individual children for risk of early childhood overweight or obesity.

Year published

2025

Authors

Boncyk, Morgan; Leroy, Jef L.; Brander, Rebecca L.; Larson, Leila M.; Ruel, Marie T.; Frongillo, Edward A.

Citation

Boncyk, Morgan; Leroy, Jef L.; Brander, Rebecca L.; Larson, Leila M.; Ruel, Marie T.; and Frongillo, Edward A. 2025. Accuracy of using weight and length in children under 24 months to screen for early childhood obesity: A systematic review. Advances in Nutrition 16(7): 100452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2025.100452

Keywords

Anthropometry; Children; Infants; Length; Obesity; Screening; Weight

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2025.100452 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

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Journal Article

Perspective: Can growth monitoring and promotion accurately diagnose or screen for inadequate growth of individual children? A critical review of the epidemiological foundations

2025Leroy, Jef L.; Brander, Rebecca L.; Frongillo, Edward A.; Larson, Leila M.; Ruel, Marie T.; Avula, Rasmi
Details

Perspective: Can growth monitoring and promotion accurately diagnose or screen for inadequate growth of individual children? A critical review of the epidemiological foundations

Growth monitoring and promotion (GMP), the process of periodic anthropometric measurements to assess the adequacy of individual child growth, is implemented across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The epidemiological foundations of GMP (i.e., that GMP can accurately diagnose or screen for inadequate growth) have never been critically reviewed. We first assessed growth patterns of individual healthy children. Using longitudinal data from low-, middle-, and high-income countries, we evaluated whether commonly used GMP criteria can be used for diagnosis and screening; i.e., if they accurately identify current, or predict subsequent, inadequate growth in individual children. The growth of individual healthy children does not track along a specific growth curve which challenges the notion that growth measurements alone can be used to distinguish between healthy and inadequate growth. We demonstrate that GMP criteria do not provide meaningful diagnostic information and that GMP is not a meaningful screening activity: commonly used GMP criteria are inaccurate predictors of (inadequate) growth later in childhood; and collecting individual children’s weight and height does not help to identify who needs support or who will benefit. Our results do not undermine the importance of dedicated programs to diagnose wasting in individual children nor do they challenge the need for well-child care to support parents and to ensure children’s optimal nutrition, health, and development. Our findings, however, highlight the need to carefully reconsider the current design of GMP in LMICs.

Year published

2025

Authors

Leroy, Jef L.; Brander, Rebecca L.; Frongillo, Edward A.; Larson, Leila M.; Ruel, Marie T.; Avula, Rasmi

Citation

Leroy, Jef L.; Brander, Rebecca L.; Frongillo, Edward A.; Larson, Leila M.; Ruel, Marie T.; and Avula, Rasmi. 2025. Perspective: Can growth monitoring and promotion accurately diagnose or screen for inadequate growth of individual children? A critical review of the epidemiological foundations. Advances in Nutrition 16(3): 100367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2025.100367

Keywords

Child Growth; Diagnosis; Epidemiology; Screening; Stunting; Undernutrition; Wasting

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2025.100367 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Perspective: Growth monitoring and promotion as an opportunity to improve early childhood development

2025Larson, Leila M.; Frongillo, Edward A.; Akter, Fahmida; Wooten, Shelbie; Brander, Rebecca L.; Ruel, Marie T.; Leroy, Jef L.
Details

Perspective: Growth monitoring and promotion as an opportunity to improve early childhood development

Growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) visits provide a frequent contact point with caregivers which can be an opportunity for the promotion of early child development (ECD). Using a combination of quantitative analyses of longitudinal and cross-sectional data and a review of the literature, we investigated whether the GMP platform could improve ECD by identifying children at risk of poor development and delivering responsive parenting education to caregivers of young children. Cross-sectional and lagged regression analyses and area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) indicated that growth indices were not accurate predictors of concurrent and later child development. Rather, validated tools, such as the Ages and Stages Questionnaire or the Survey of Well-being of Young Children, could be utilized during GMP visits to screen individual children for suboptimal development. Through a review of published literature on ECD interventions, we identified 10 light-touch ECD interventions which could feasibly be implemented during GMP visits, but only half have been evaluated for their effectiveness. Our findings demonstrate that, while growth indices cannot accurately identify children at risk of suboptimal development, the GMP platform could offer an opportunity to screen children for suboptimal development and to deliver ECD interventions. Further evidence on the implementation and effectiveness of light-touch parenting programs, however, is required.

Year published

2025

Authors

Larson, Leila M.; Frongillo, Edward A.; Akter, Fahmida; Wooten, Shelbie; Brander, Rebecca L.; Ruel, Marie T.; Leroy, Jef L.

Citation

Larson, Leila M.; Frongillo, Edward A.; Akter, Fahmida; Wooten, Shelbie; Brander, Rebecca L.; et al. Perspective: Growth monitoring and promotion as an opportunity to improve early childhood development. Advances in Nutrition. Article in press. First published online on June 25, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2025.100470

Keywords

Child Growth; Child Development; Monitoring

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2025.100470 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Blogs

Rethinking growth monitoring and promotion in low- and middle-income countries
IFPRI Blog
 | 
March 05, 2025

Rethinking growth monitoring and promotion in low- and middle-income countries

By Jef L. Leroy, Rebecca Brander, Edward A. Frongillo, Leila M. Larson, Marie Ruel, and Rasmi Avula

A study raises questions about a standard practice.

Events

23rd International Congress of Nutrition (ICN)
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

August 24 to 29, 2025

23rd International Congress of Nutrition (ICN)

IFPRI is participating in the 23rd International Congress of Nutrition (ICN), hosted by the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) on August 24-29 in Paris, France.  The theme of this year’s congress is “Sustainable Food for Global Health,” bringing together experts to discuss evidence and innovations in nutrition, sustainability, food science, and public health. IFPRI […]