In children, maintaining adequate fluid intake and hydration is important for physiological reasons and for the adoption of healthy, sustainable drinking habits. In the Liq.In⁷ cross-sectional surveys involving 6,469 children (4–17 years) from 13 countries, 60% of children did not meet the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) adequate intake for water from fluids. Beyond fluid quantity, the quality of what children drink is important for health. In these surveys, the contribution of sugar-sweetened beverages and fruit juices to total fluid intake (TFI) in children exceeded that of water in 6 out of 13 countries. To assess the adequacy of children’s fluid intake, urinary biomarkers of hydration such as urine osmolality, urine specific gravity, and urine color may be used. To date, while there are no widely accepted specific threshold values for urine concentration to define adequate hydration in children, the available literature suggests that many children have highly concentrated urine, indicating insufficient fluid intake. This is worrisome since studies have demonstrated a relationship between low fluid intake or insufficient hydration and cognitive performance in children. Furthermore, results of the Liq.In⁷ surveys showed that at school – where children spend a significant amount of time and require optimal cognitive performance – children drink only 14% of their TFI. Consequently, it is pertinent to better understand the barriers to drinking water at school and encourage the promotion of water intake through multicomponent interventions that combine educational, environmental, and behavioral aspects to support adequate hydration as well as optimal cognition in children.

Although the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF recommend that infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life, evidence is scarce on how the mother’s undernourishment status at delivery and maternal dietary factors influence human milk (HM) composition during the first 6 months of life in regions with high food insecurity. The maternal undernourishment status at delivery, maternal diet, and HM nutrients were assessed among 46 women and their 48 vaginally born infants in Bangui at 1, 4, 11, 18, and 25 weeks after birth through 24-h recalls and food consumption questionnaires from December 2017 to June 2019 in the context of the "Mother-to-Infant TransmIssion of microbiota in Central-Africa" (MITICA) study. High food insecurity indexes during the follow-up were significantly associated with them having lower levels of many of the human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) that were measured and with lower levels of retinol (aß-coef = −0.2, p value = 0.04), fatty acids (aß-coef = −7.2, p value = 0.03), and amino acids (aß-coef = −2121.0, p value < 0.001). On the contrary, women from food-insecure households displayed significantly higher levels of lactose in their HM (aß-coef = 3.3, p value = 0.02). In parallel, the consumption of meat, poultry, and fish was associated with higher HM levels of many of the HMOs that were measured, total amino acids (aß-coef = 5484.4, p value < 0.001), and with lower HM levels of lactose (aß-coef = −15.6, p value = 0.01). Food insecurity and maternal diet had a meaningful effect on HM composition with a possible impact being an infant undernourishment risk. Our results plead for consistent actions on food security as an effective manner to influence the nutritional content of HM and thereby, potentially improve infant survival and healthy growth.

We investigated the effect of three interventions to increase the plain water consumption of children with unhealthy drinking habits, with an innovative approach combining the three layers of Installation Theory: embodied competences, affordances and social regulation. 334 preschool children and their carers were allocated to three interventions: Control (control): no intervention, Information (info): online coaching sessions on water health benefits aiming at modifying embodied competences (knowledge), Information + Water Affordance (info + w): the same plus home delivery of small bottles of water. After three months, half of the info and info + w subjects were allocated to Social Regulation (+social) (on-line discussion forum) or no further intervention (-social). Intake of plain water and all other fluid types of the children were recorded by the carers 6 times over a year using an online 7-day fluid-specific dietary record. Over 1 year, all groups significantly increased daily water consumption by 3.0-7.8 times (+118 to +222 mL). Info + w + social and Info-social generated the highest increase in plain water intake after one year compared to baseline, by 7.8 times (+216 mL) and 6.7 times (+222 mL) respectively; both significantly exceeded the control (3.0 times, +118 mL), whilst the effect of info + w-social (5.0 times, +158 mL) and info + social (5.3 times, +198 mL) did not differ from that of control. All groups saw a decrease of sweetened beverages intake, again with info + w + social generating the largest decrease (-27%; -172 mL). No changes in other fluids or total fluid intake were observed. Sustainable increased water consumption can be achieved in children with unhealthy drinking habits by influencing representations, changing material affordances, and providing social regulation. Combining the three provided the strongest effect as predicted by Installation Theory.

Micronutrient deficiencies, often resulting from the consumption of diets with low nutritional value and diversity, remain a major public health concern for children in low-income countries. Understanding food consumption practices is crucial for providing an evidence-based foundation for designing and implementing effective intervention strategies to address micronutrient deficiencies in vulnerable geographies and populations. To assess infant feeding practices and dietary intakes of healthy children aged 6–36 mo living in Abidjan, Cote Ivoire. Food and beverage intake was collected by their mother using an interview-based 24-h dietary intake questionnaire. Dietary intake was assessed after classification based on food groups and subgroups defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization, adjusted to reflect Ivorian food specificities. Dietary quality was evaluated through dietary diversity scores. Four hundred seven children were included (6–11 mo old: n = 213; 12–23 mo old: n = 135; and 24–36 mo old: n = 59; 53% female). Exclusive and nonexclusive breastfeeding prevalence at 6 mo was 37% and 95%, respectively. Breastfeeding continuation rates were 85%, 38%, and 3% in the 6- to 11-, 12- to 23-, and 24- to 36-mo-old group, respectively. The most consumed food groups were dairy (92% of the sample), cereals (88%), roots, tubers, and starchy foods (38%), fish (49%), and vegetables (41%), whereas meat (11%), fruits (15%), eggs (15%), pulses (3%), and seeds and nuts (2%) were seldom consumed. Milk intake decreased with age, whereas cereal and starchy food consumption increased. Dietary diversity was low (dietary diversity score: 3.3 ± 1.4), increasing with age. The proportion of children not meeting the minimum dietary diversity was 74%. The study provided information on the dietary intake of children aged 6–36 mo. The results showed that the children’s feeding practices and dietary intakes are suboptimal. This calls for interventions to improve child feeding practices in this age group.