Interesting Scientific American Article

[Betty Lucas]

	Laura, thanks for noticing and mentioning the recent Scientific
American article by Brown and Pollitt regarding malnutrition and
intellectual development.  It's an excellent review and update on the whole issue of
nutrition, poverty/early deprivation, and cognition, including Pollitt's
intervention studies in Central America.  But for the benefit of this
audience, the article also addresses hunger and marginal malnutrition as seen in the
U.S., and does a nice job of documenting the need for school-based child
nutrition programs.  I thought the article has the potential to be used
with administrators and legislators and their staffs.

_____________________________
Betty Lucas, MPH, RD
CHDD, Univ. of Washington
Box 357920
Seattle, WA  98195-7920
(206) 685-1289 FAX (206)543-5771
email: blucas at u.washington.edu

On Tue, 4 Jun 1996, Laura Larsson wrote:


> 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

>

>

>

>

>

>