Aschauhof 3, 24340, Aschauhof, Altenhof, Germany.
Centre for Global Health and Human Development, School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK.
Acta Paediatr. 2018 Jul;107(7):1166-1176. doi: 10.1111/apa.14311. Epub 2018 Mar 30.
To scrutinize to what extent modern ideas about nutrition effects on growth are supported by historic observations in European populations.
We reviewed 19th and early 20th century paediatric journals in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, the third largest European library with an almost complete collection of the German medical literature. During a three-day visit, we inspected 15 bookshelf meters of literature not available in electronic format.
Late 19th and early 20th century breastfed European infants and children, independent of social strata, grew far below World Health Organisation (WHO) standards and 15-30% of adequately-fed children would be classified as stunted by the WHO standards. Historic sources indicate that growth in height is largely independent of the extent and nature of the diet. Height catch-up after starvation was greater than catch-up reported in modern nutrition intervention studies, and allowed for unimpaired adult height.
Historical studies are indispensable to understand why stunting does not equate with undernutrition and why modern diet interventions frequently fail to prevent stunting. Appropriateness and effect size of modern nutrition interventions on growth need revision.
审视现代关于营养对生长影响的观念在多大程度上得到了欧洲人群历史观察的支持。
我们查阅了位于柏林国家图书馆的 19 世纪和 20 世纪初的儿科期刊，该图书馆是欧洲第三大图书馆，拥有几乎完整的德国医学文献收藏。在为期三天的访问中，我们查阅了 15 米书架的文献，这些文献无法以电子格式获取。
19 世纪末和 20 世纪初，无论社会阶层如何，母乳喂养的欧洲婴儿和儿童的生长远远低于世界卫生组织（WHO）的标准，15%至 30%的充足喂养儿童将按照 WHO 标准被归类为发育迟缓。历史资料表明，身高的增长在很大程度上与饮食的范围和性质无关。饥饿后身高的追赶增长大于现代营养干预研究中报告的追赶增长，并且允许达到不受影响的成人身高。
历史研究对于理解为什么发育迟缓不等同于营养不良以及为什么现代饮食干预经常未能预防发育迟缓至关重要。现代营养干预对生长的适宜性和效果大小需要修正。
