Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction to comparative growth studies: methods and standards
- 2 Europeans in Europe
- 3 European descendants in Australasia, Africa and the Americas
- 4 Africans in Africa and of African ancestry
- 5 Asiatics in Asia and the Americas
- 6 Indo-Mediterraneans in the Near East, North Africa and India
- 7 Australian Aborigines and Pacific Island peoples
- 8 Rate of maturation: population differences in skeletal, dental and pubertal development
- 9 Genetic influence on growth: family and race comparisons
- 10 Environmental influence on growth
- 11 Child growth and chronic disease in adults
- Appendix
- References
- Index
1 - Introduction to comparative growth studies: methods and standards
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 February 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction to comparative growth studies: methods and standards
- 2 Europeans in Europe
- 3 European descendants in Australasia, Africa and the Americas
- 4 Africans in Africa and of African ancestry
- 5 Asiatics in Asia and the Americas
- 6 Indo-Mediterraneans in the Near East, North Africa and India
- 7 Australian Aborigines and Pacific Island peoples
- 8 Rate of maturation: population differences in skeletal, dental and pubertal development
- 9 Genetic influence on growth: family and race comparisons
- 10 Environmental influence on growth
- 11 Child growth and chronic disease in adults
- Appendix
- References
- Index
Summary
A child's growth rate reflects, perhaps better than any other single index, his state of health and nutrition; and often indeed his psychological situation also. Similarly, the average values of children's heights and weights reflect accurately the state of a nation's public health and the average nutritional status of its citizens, when appropriate allowance is made for differences, iiany, in genetic potential. This is especially so in developing or disintegrating countries. Thus a well-designed growth study is a powerful tool with which to monitor the health of a population, or to pinpoint subgroups of a population whose share in economic and social benefits is less than it might be. Indeed as infant mortality rate goes down during a country's development, so the importance of monitoring growth rate increases.
There is no guarantee, however, that all populations have the same growth potential. There are certainly large differences between populations, in height and weight and the age of puberty for example, and it is now clear that a portion of these differences is genetic in origin, a portion (in the developing countries a large portion) environmental.
The first edition of this book, published in 1976, was the outcome of the International Biological Programme (Human Adaptability Section) which extended over the years 1964–74 under the auspices of the International Council of Scientific Unions. This worldwide effort resulted in 340 growth projects in 42 countries, and we made use of these, as well as other data, in a tabulation and summary of growth in populations around the world.
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- Worldwide Variation in Human Growth , pp. 1 - 16Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1991
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