Postnatal origins of undernutrition.

Obesity and nutrition-related chronic disorders are fast rising in developing countries. But undernutrition--stunting, underweight, wasting and micronutrient deficiencies--still affect millions of preschool children in both rural and urban settings increasing the risks of morbidity and mortality, impairing cognitive development, reducing productivity and increasing the risk of chronic diseases in later life. In addition undernutrition has a transgenerational effect.

Implication of new WHO growth standards on identification of risk factors and estimated prevalence of malnutrition in rural Malawian infants.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) released new Child Growth Standards in 2006 to replace the current National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) growth reference. We assessed how switching from the NCHS to the newly released WHO Growth Standards affects the estimated prevalence of wasting, underweight and stunting, and the pattern of risk factors identified.

Methodology/principal Findings: Data were drawn from a village-informant driven Demographic Surveillance System in Northern Malawi.