Nurturing Care, Micronutrients, and Dietary Interventions Across the Life Course: Advances in Nutritional Epidemiology from Low- and Middle-Income Settings

Nutritional epidemiology is evolving to encompass a broader understanding of how nurturing care, micronutrient adequacy, and dietary interventions impact health trajectories from preconception through old age, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Despite substantial progress in identifying the burden of micronutrient deficiencies and the importance of optimal dietary practices, critical questions remain regarding the integration of nurturing care frameworks, covering health, responsive caregiving, early learning, and safety, into traditional nutritional research paradigms. Recent studies underscore the significance of life-course perspectives, showing that early nutritional interventions, dietary quality, and caregiver support have far-reaching effects on physical growth, cognitive development, and long-term health. Nutrition programs and services can be leveraged as entry points to scale nurturing care interventions given their reach across the lifecourse. While there is evidence of the feasibility of integrating additional nurturing care components at the point of delivery, evidence on effectiveness, implementation process and scale up remain scarce. MoreoverYet, many LMICs continue to face unique contextual and systemic challenges, such as food insecurity, inequities, and rapid dietary transitions, which intersect with climate and market disruptions to complicate both research and programmatic responses.Emerging evidence from longitudinal studies, natural experiments, and innovative trials highlights the dynamic interplay between micronutrient interventions and nurturing care, and the need for tailored strategies that account for population and environmental diversity. Methodological advances, such as improved biomarkers, causal inference techniques, and harmonized diet quality measurement, have enhanced the capacity to generate actionable evidence. However, significant measurement challenges, gaps in implementation science, and limited translation of research into policy and practice persist. There is also a pressing need to better understand how equity, gender, and local food systems modulate both risk and the effectiveness of interventions, especially as the field seeks to address rising burdens of noncommunicable diseases and functional health outcomes across all age groups.This Research Topic aims to advance the integration of nurturing care, micronutrient status, and dietary interventions across the life course in LMICs, drawing on empirical research, methodological innovation, and policy-focused analysis. Central objectives include clarifying how nurturing care can be operationalized within nutritional epidemiology, identifying effective intervention strategies tailored to developmental stages, and exploring innovations in measurement and program implementation. Key questions relate to how context, equity, and food systems shape both nutritional risk and opportunity, and how evidence can best inform multisectoral programs and scalable solutions.To gather further insights in context-specific life-course nutritional epidemiology in LMICs, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:o Conceptual integration of nurturing care within nutrition research frameworks within a life stage group or across the continumm of care from preconception/pregnancy through to adolescence o Micronutrient supplementation, fortification, and dietary interventions from preconception to older adulthoodo Context-specific determinants of nutritional risk, including gender, food systems, and climate factorso Innovations in methods, including nutrition-sensitive indicators, biomarkers, and causal inference approacheso Implementation science, program adaptation, and policy translation in resource-limited settingso Advances in dietary assessment, data harmonization, and measurement error correctiono Equity, inclusion, and ethical dimensions in intervention researcho Case studies on successful program scale-up and lessons from natural experiments Topic editors: Taryn Smith, Ramazan Mert Atan Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/77193/nurturing-care-micronutrients-and-dietary-interventions-across-the-life-course-advances-in-nutritional-epidemiology-from-low--and-middle-income-settings