By Donna Lu
A drought-affected farm in El Salvador in 2018
REUTERS/Jose Cabezas
Warming temperatures and more variable rainfall are reducing diet diversity among children in many countries around the world and may even undermine efforts to improve food security.
Meredith Niles at the University of Vermont and her colleagues analysed the results of health surveys from more than 107,000 children in 19 countries in Asia; North, south-east and West Africa; and Central and South America. The surveys were conducted between 2005 and 2009.
In the surveys, the diversity of a childs diet was quantified with a score based on their intake …