[The WHO Child Growth Standards for children under 5 years].
BACKGROUND
In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the new global WHO Child Growth Standards for children under five years. The rationale for developing this new growth standard was that a review of the NCHS/WHO-reference, which had been recommended for international use since 1978, showed that the growth of breast-fed infants deviated negatively from this reference. Most children included in the NCHS/WHO-reference from 1978 were fed mainly with infant formula.


METHODS
A growth reference describes
children without a diagnosed disease grow. The WHO Child Growth Standards document how children SHOULD: grow when they are raised in healthy environments, are breastfed and not exposed to tobacco through their mother. The standard was developed on the basis of a multi-ethnic sample with participants from Norway, USA, Brazil, Oman, Ghana and India.


CONCLUSIONS
The WHO Child Growth Standards describe how healthy children grow when key health and environmental needs are met. The new growth standards documents that children with different ethnic backgrounds grow very similarly under equal conditions. The WHO Child Growth Standards are an important tool for prevention and early recognition of overweight, as well as growth faltering and wasting.
Baerug
Anne B
AB
Nasjonalt kompetansesenter for amming, Kvinneklinikken, Rikshospitalet-Radiumhospitalet, 0027 Oslo. anne.berug@rikshospitalet.no
Tufte
Elisabeth
E
Norum
Kaare R
KR
Bjørneboe
Gunn-Elin Aa
GE
D001724:Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology; D001827:Body Height / Q000208:ethnology / Q000502:physiology; D001835:Body Weight / Q000208:ethnology / Q000502:physiology; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006128:Growth / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D050177:Overweight; D012015:Reference Standards; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors; D014944:World Health Organization