India, March 8 -- Children aged 6-23 months going without milk, solid or semisolid food in 24-hour period are 'zero-food'

India has ranked shamefully high in a study calculating the prevalence of children aged 6-23 months who have not eaten anything over a 24-hour period, across 92 low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In absolute numbers, the paper found India had the most 'zero-food' children at 6.7 million - almost half of all the zero-food children in the surveys.

Zero-food children are the ones who did not consume any animal milk, formula or solid or semisolid food during the last 24 hours. At approximately six months of age, breastfeeding is no longer sufficient to provide the child with necessary nutrition. Introducing solid o...