Global and secular trends in patterns of child growth

In this lecture, Aryeh Stein, highlights the critical role of the first 1,000 days, where rapid growth makes children most vulnerable to the effects of inadequate nutrition. Socioeconomic factors are shown to heavily influence growth outcomes, with children from poorer households consistently shorter, both within and across countries. The lecture underscores the importance of addressing these disparities to ensure optimal growth for all children. While population-level measures like height-for-age and stunting are effective for tracking growth, stunting should not be used clinically for individual diagnosis. The speaker stresses the need for targeted interventions to combat undernutrition in low-income countries, while simultaneously addressing the rising issue of overweight, particularly in middle-income countries.