Addressing Childhood Malnutrition in Europe: Policy Approaches to Promote Healthy Eating in Young Children

Childhood malnutrition remains a pressing public health challenge in Europe, where stunting, wasting, and underweight coexist with rising rates of childhood overweight and obesity. This policy review provides a strategic roadmap for promoting healthy nutrition in early childhood by synthesizing WHO and EU guidance and proposing coordinated action across three time horizons. Short-term goals (1–3 years) include harmonizing food-based dietary guidelines, implementing universal nutrition screening in pediatric care, and strengthening breastfeeding-supportive environments. Mid-term priorities (3–7 years) focus on fiscal levers, such as sugar taxes and healthy food subsidies; reformulating children’s products; and embedding nutrition education within school curricula. Long-term strategies (7+ years) emphasize harmonized EU-wide monitoring systems, alignment of early-life nutrition with social protection policies, and sustained investment in research on the DOHaD. Through a unified, multisectoral strategy emphasizing early-life nutrition, equitable access to healthy foods, education, and robust regulation, Europe can effectively address the double burden of malnutrition and sustainably reduce childhood obesity.