Desnutrición infantil y daño del capital humano: damage to the human capital

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Abstract

Diversas evaluaciones e investigaciones científicas realizadas en Chile durante el periodo 1950-1970, permitieron ir comprobando que la desnutrición y la pobreza durante los primeros periodos de la vida, constituían las principales causantes, tanto de la elevada mortalidad temprana (50% de las muertes antes del 15 años de vida), como de los daños permanentes en los que sobrevivían. "Un mal oculto", que ancestralmente estaba impidiendo avanzar hacia la igualdad de oportunidades y el desarrollo económico y social del país. La llamada de atención y toma de conciencia de la realidad, era indispensable como primera etapa pragmática para lograr implementar intervenciones destinadas a prevenir el daño desde el momento de nacer y aun antes, durante el embarazo.

Translated abstract

Different evaluations and research carried out between 1950 and 1970 showed that undernutrition and poverty during the early years of life were the main cause for early mortality (50% of all deaths in children 0 to 15 years of age) and permanent damage in those who survived. These were a "hidden threat" which hampered the advancement to equal opportunity and the socioeconomic improvement of the country. Making people aware of this reality was crucial to implement interventions to prevent the damage to children before and after birth.

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Most cited references 53

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Obesity in young men after famine exposure in utero and early infancy.

G Ravelli, Z Stein, M. Susser (1976)

In a historical cohort study of 300,000 19-year-old men exposed to the Dutch famine of 1944-45 and examined at military induction, we tested the hypothesis that prenatal and early postnatal nutrition determines subsequent obesity. Outcomes were opposite depending on the time of exposure. During the last trimester of pregnancy and the first months of life, exposure produced significantly lower obesity rates (P less than 0.005). This result is consistent with the inference that nutritional deprivation affected a critical period of development for adipose-tissue cellularity. During the first half of pregnancy, however, exposure resulted in significantly higher obesity rates (P less than 0.0005). This observation is consistent with the inference that nutritional deprivation affected the differentiation of hypothalamic centers regulating food intake and growth, and that subsequent increased food availability produced an accumulation of excess fat in an organism growing to its predetermined maximum size.

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Reversibility of stunting: epidemiological findings in children from developing countries.

R Martorell, Mohammed Khan, Joyce Schroeder (1994)

The growth literature from developing countries is reviewed to assess the extent to which stunting, a phenomenon of early childhood, can be reversed in later childhood and adolescence. The potential for catch-up growth increases as maturation is delayed and the growth period is prolonged. However, maturational delays in developing countries are usually less than two years, only enough to compensate for a small fraction of the growth retardation of early childhood. Follow-up studies find that subjects who remain in the setting in which they became stunted experience little or no catch-up in growth later in life. Improvements in living conditions, as through food supplementation or through adoption, trigger catch-up growth but do so more effectively in the very young. One study cautions that in older adopted subjects, accelerated growth may accelerate maturation, shorten the growth period and lead to short adult stature.