Inequalities in adiposity trends between 1979 and 1999 in Guatemalan children.

Background: Guatemala suffered from civil war and high levels of inequality and childhood stunting in the second half of the 20th century, but little is known about inequalities in secular trends in adiposity.

Objectives: To investigate differences in childhood body mass index (BMI) and skinfold thickness trajectories from 1979 to 1999 between three groups of children: High socioeconomic position (SEP) Ladino, Low SEP Ladino, and Low SEP Indigenous Maya.

Methods: The sample comprised 19 346 children aged 7-17 years with 54 638 observations.

What makes people grow? Love and hope.

Background: Hope and love are popular themes of literature and art in many human societies. The human physiology of love and hope is less well understood. This review presents evidence that the lack of love and/or hope delays growth disturbs development and maturation and even kills.

Stress exposure in specific growth periods associates with children's weight, height, and body mass index.

Objectives: We investigate associations between children exposure to stressful events, considering: (1) the period in which the event took place, (2) the type of event, and (3) the cumulative effect of the events on children's weight, height and body mass index (BMI).

Methods: A total of 8429 Portuguese children (3349 exposed to at least one stressful event during their lifetime; 50.2% males; mean age = 7.

Bergmann's rule is a "just-so" story of human body size.

Carl Bergmann was an astute naturalist and physiologist. His ideas about animal size and shape were important advances in the pre-Darwinian nineteenth century. Bergmann's rule claims that that in cold climates, large body mass increases the ratio of volume-to-surface area and provides for maximum metabolic heat retention in mammals and birds.