TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
A1  - Bilogub, Maria
A1  - Lindl, A. C.
A1  - Harper, D.
A1  - Mansukoski, L.
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
T1  - Weight and height growth of malnourished school-age children during re-feeding
BT  - three historic studies published shortly after World War I
JF  - European journal of clinical nutrition
N2  - Background In view of the ongoing debate on "chronic malnutrition" and the concept of "stunting" as "a better measure than underweight of the cumulative effects of undernutrition and infection (WHO)", we translate, briefly comment and republish three seminal historic papers on catch-up growth following re-feeding after severe food restriction of German children during and after World War I. The observations were published in 1920 and 1922, and appear to be of particular interest to the modern nutritionist. Results The papers of Abderhalden (1920) and Bloch (1920) describe German children of all social strata who were born shortly before World War I, and raised in apparently "normal" families. After severe long-standing undernutrition, they participated in an international charity program. They experienced exceptional catch-up growth in height of 3-5 cm within 6-8 weeks. Goldstein (1922) observed 512 orphans and children from underprivileged families. Goldstein described very different growth patterns. These children were much shorter (mean height between -2.0 and -2.8 SDS, modern WHO reference). They mostly failed to catch-up in height, but tended to excessively increase in weight particularly during adolescence.
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0274-z
SN  - 0954-3007
SN  - 1476-5640
VL  - 72
IS  - 12
SP  - 1603
EP  - 1619
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
ER  -