ABSTRACT
Human growth is a dynamic process that involves the complex regulation of tissue development from the moment of conception through adulthood. Fundamental to this process is the need for sufficient substrates required for cellular growth and energy to facilitate growth and development. Body composition may also play a role in the programming in early life of a variety of health outcomes, such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. Early knowledge of human body composition was based on whole body carcass analyses of human fetuses, infants, and adults from the 1900s. Body composition from birth through early childhood often undergoes rapid changes associated with normal growth processes. In terms of body composition, poor growth during gestation and in the first 2 years of life is not only associated with metabolic adaptions that favor fat deposition, but also with unhealthy fat accumulation and central adiposity.
