Interesting Scientific American Article

[Laura Larsson]

Colleagues:

For those of you who may have missed it, there's a very interesting
article by Brown and Politt in the February 1996 issue of Scientific
American titled: Malnutrition, Poverty and Intellectual Development.
(Scientific American, 274(2):38-43).


>From the abstract:  Lack of essential nutrients during a child's early

development can stunt mental achievement for a lifetime. Researchers had
once assumed that this impairment resulted directly from irreversible
brain damage, but now the mechanism appears more comples. The important
finding is that a more enriched diet and educational environment may often
be able to restore some lost congitive skills.

I found the tone of the article hopeful, but what I found most fascinating
is the excellent schematic model (page 43) of the old theory vs. new
theory of Malnutrition/Delayed Intellectual Development theory.

The authors have included a sidebar titled: Avoiding Malnutrition which is
also quite useful.

Regards,

Laura
larsson at u.washington.edu
listowner: PHNUTR-L at u.washington.edu