Abstract
Undernutrition during fetal and postnatal life is still a major problem in many low- and middle-income countries. Even in high-income countries malnutrition may exist in cases of intrauterine growth retardation, as well as in chronic conditions such as anorexia nervosa and inflammatory bowel disease. Children adopted from developing countries are often chronically malnourished. Nutritional rehabilitation, resulting in catch-up growth, is often complicated by influences originating in fetal life as well as during postnatal growth. This may result in hormonal and metabolic changes as well as alterations in pubertal development. The present review focuses on fetal, postnatal and fetal-postnatal undernutrition and subsequent catch-up growth as well as catch-up growth in relation to pubertal development. Catch-up growth in children can be associated with early puberty following fetal or combined fetal-postnatal undernutrition. However, early puberty does not seem to occur following catch-up growth after isolated postnatal undernutrition. Gonadotropins have been reported to be elevated in prepubertal adopted girls as well as during catch-up growth in animals. Even if other factors may contribute, linear catch-up growth seems to be associated with the timing of pubertal development. The mechanisms behind this are still unknown. Future research may elucidate how to carry out nutritional rehabilitation without risk for early pubertal development.
Highlights
Undernutrition, caused by lack of food and/or the wrong composition of food, is a world-wide problem, causing impaired growth and pubertal development primarily in the developing world, and, to a lesser extent, in affluent countries
- The timing for the onset of puberty is dependent on the degree of undernutrition as well as the rate of catch up growth
This review focuses on different aspects associated with triggering of early puberty following undernutrition and subsequent catch-up growth
Summary
Undernutrition, caused by lack of food and/or the wrong composition of food, is a world-wide problem, causing impaired growth and pubertal development primarily in the developing world, and, to a lesser extent, in affluent countries. In developing countries undernutrition is often combined with other conditions such as infections or malabsorption. According to the definitions accepted by WHO, linear growth below –2 SD in height for age denotes chronic undernutrition resulting in stunting. Weight for height below –2 SD indicates wasting, which is a sign of acute undernutrition. There are reference values for BMI for age for the preschool years [1] and from birth to 18 years [4] which combine height and weight parameters
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
