Description: The early environment in which we grow up has profound, long lasting, and often irreversible consequences for us throughout our lives. Stresses due to undernutrition in early childhood can mean that in adulthood individuals are smaller, more prone to disease, and have a shorter life expectancy than those with normal diets. Disease and poor living conditions in infancy and childhood also have serious implications in adulthood. While environmental effects on human growth and development are well documented, the long term consequences due to processes taking place at the early stages of growth and development have only recently become a focus of intense study. In this volume, leading researchers in nutrition, epidemiology, human biology, anthropology and physiology bring together a uniquely accessible source of information on this fascinating topic.
Review Quotes: "The notion of the serious consequences of seemingly transient problems such as low birth weight on later health and even life-span is fascinating. The book has a population biology focus which is enlightening and presents a difefrent perspective than that commonly held by therapists...it would be an excellent addition to a professional library." MaryBeth Mandich, Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics