The document discusses the importance of fish and essential fatty acids during the first 1,000 days of life. It notes that fish is a rich source of essential fats like DHA and that rural Bangladeshi women and children often have low fish intake and low levels of these fats. The document recommends that the agricultural sector increase access to fish with omega-3 fatty acids and improve omega-3 content of fish feeds to help meet nutrition needs during this critical period of development.

1. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted
Senior Nutrition Adviser
WorldFish Center
Email address: s.thilsted@cgiar.org
partnership  excellence  growth

2. What are the First 1,000 Days?
Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Framework and Roadmap:
1,000 Days Global Effort
Early risers:
Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala,
Lao PDR, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique,
Namibia, Nepal, Niger, Peru, Senegal, Tanzania,
Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
partnership  excellence  growth

3. SUN: 1,000 Days
• 15 CGIAR Research Programs, in particular: Agriculture for
Improved Nutrition and Health
• Feed the Future, Global Health Initiative (USAID)
• DFID, U. K.
• Grand Challenges Canada: Saving Brains
“The waste of human capital is enormous. Imagine a world
where children reach their full potential. That is the world
the Saving Brains initiative is aiming to create.”
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Grand Challenges Explorations Round 7: Explore Nutrition for
Healthy Growth of Infants and Young Children
partnership  excellence  growth

4. 2011 - 2016
partnership  excellence  growth

5. Framework of CIP
• Food availability
• Food access
• Food utilization
partnership  excellence  growth

6. “Mache Bhate Bangali”
(Fish and Rice make a Bengali)
partnership  excellence  growth

7. Dried Small Fish, Prawn and Shrimp
partnership  excellence  growth

8. Curry Small Fish Dish
partnership  excellence  growth

9. SUN: 1,000 Days
Focus on the Role of Essential Fats for
Brain Development and Cognition
Fat in the Critical Thousand Days
Ensuring
Adequacy of Essential Dietary Fats
for Mothers and Children in
Low and Middle Income Countries
Meeting in Washington D. C., April 2011
partnership  excellence  growth

10. Fish is a Rich Source of Essential Fats
Lake Malawi:
• Dried usipe contains 1,700 mg docosahexaenoic acid
(DHA) per 100 g, comparable to salmon
• DHA in the breast milk of women ~0.7% of fatty acids,
about twice the global average
Lake Kitangiri, Tanzania (cradle of civilization):
• Fish and breast milk of women with high concentrations of
essential fats
Rural Bangladeshi women:
• Low fish intake, low fat intake and low levels of essential
fats in breast milk partnership  excellence  growth

11. SUN: 1,000 Days
Recommendations from the Washington D. C. Meeting:
The agricultural sector has an important role to play to
increase the availability of foods containing omega-3
fatty acids:
• Increase access to fish with omega-3 fatty acids
• Improve omega-3 content of fish feeds and expand
access to farmers
partnership  excellence  growth

12. Small Fish
Irreplaceable Animal-source Food
Rich Source of Multiple Nutrients
Animal Protein
Essential Fats
Essential Micronutrients: Minerals
and Vitamins
Common Food eaten with the Staple
Adds Flavour and Taste to the Meal
Improves Diet Diversity
Enhances Mineral Bioavailability from
Foods in the Meal
Cooked with Vegetables, Oil and
Spices, further Improving Diet Diversity,
Adding Nutrients and Growth-
promoting Substances
Processed, Stored - Prolonging
Duration of Consumption
partnership  excellence  growth

13. Fish in Local Complementary Foods
• Bangladesh: Plant-source foods: rice flour, lentil powder,
molasses, soybean oil
Alleviating childhood malnutrition by improved utilization of
traditional foods
Effectiveness studies of complementary foods in children 6-
24 months
• Cambodia: rice flour, dried powdered fish (2 small species:
rich in iron and zinc and essential fats), spider
• Kenya: maize flour, dried powdered small fish (omena),
fermented amaranth, termite partnership  excellence  growth

14. Increased Fish Production is Not Sufficient
• Increased Use of Small Marine Fish for Human
Consumption
present use: fish meal and fish oil
• Improvement in Post-harvest Processes
sun-drying, Storage, Marketing, Cooking
• Reduction of Spoilage and Wastage
partnership  excellence  growth

15. Gaps in Recognizing the Importance of Fish in
the First 1,000 Days of Life
• Data on intra-household fish consumption, especially
in women and young children, at species level,
different seasons and locations
• Nutrient composition of fish species and fish products
• Bioavailability of nutrient components specific for fish:
dehydroretinol (vitamin A compound)
high molecular iron compounds
• Degree of enhancement of mineral bioavailability of a
small intake of fish in a meal partnership  excellence  growth

16. Thank you
partnership  excellence  growth