ABSTRACT
Nutrition is essential for normal growth and development, and the adequacy of weight gain and linear growth is an essential measure of children’s nutritional status. The interdependence of infectious diseases and nutritional status are also of great concern in developing countries. Chronic suboptimal nutrition and/or frequent infections may compromise weight gain and linear growth, resulting in nutritional dwarfing (ND). The assessment of growth patterns detects ND more accurately than a battery of biochemical or laboratory measurements. Patients with nutritional growth retardation have reached an equilibrium between their genetic growth potential and their nutritional intake. Growth deceleration is the adaptive response to suboptimal nutrition. A variety of pathological entities which lead to decreased nutritional intake and/or malabsorption may lead to ND. Poor nutritional status and impaired growth may result from organic disease. The prevalence of nonorganic ND leading to malnutrition and poor growth in affluent communities is unknown.
