title: Infant nutrition: implication for somatic growth, adult onset diseases, and oral health.
abstract: The gold standard for assessing the adequacy of nutrient intake in pediatrics is that diet which promotes optimal growth and development. Thus, it is crucial that our methods for measuring these outcomes be valid, reliable, and widely accepted. A review of the recent medical literature in the field of clinical nutrition indicates that both growth data and dietary standards continue to evolve as more data accrue concerning their applicability in both health and disease. In addition, oral nutrition is clearly a determinant of perhaps the most prevalent infectious disease in pediatrics: dental caries. Research in this field stresses the importance of oral fluoride intake in the prevention of caries, as well as the fact that current efforts at reducing milk-bottle tooth decay are inadequate.
authors.affiliation: Nutrition Support Service, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sonis
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Castle
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Duggan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D001903:Bottle Feeding / Q000009:adverse effects; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000150:complications; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000150:complications; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004198:Disease Susceptibility / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007225:Infant Food / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D008297:Male; D009909:Oral Health; D012016:Reference Values; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D004044:Dietary Proteins