Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine Endorses New WHO Child Growth Standards.NEW ROCHELLE New Rochelle (rōshĕl`), city (1990 pop. 67,625), Westchester co., SE N.Y., on Long Island Sound; settled by Huguenots 1688, inc. as a village 1858, as a city 1899. , N.Y. -- With the release yesterday of the new international growth standards for infants and children, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM ABM: see guided missile. ABM - Asynchronous Balanced Mode ) endorses the work of the WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study (MGRS MGRS Military Grid Reference System MGRS Multicentre Growth Reference Study MGRS Many Glacier Ranger Station (Glacier National Park) ). Unlike the old growth charts, the new standards (1) describe how children "should grow," (2) establish breastfeeding as the biological "norm," and (3) provide international standards for all healthy children. The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (www.bfmed.org), a global organization of physicians dedicated to the promotion, protection and support of breastfeeding and human lactation lactation Production of milk by female mammals after giving birth. The milk is discharged by the mammary glands in the breasts. Hormones triggered by delivery of the placenta and by nursing stimulate milk production. , urges worldwide adoption of these standards. At its 11th International Meeting in September 2006 in Niagara Falls, NY, ABM will feature Cuberto Garza, MD, PhD, addressing this research and the new international growth standards. Further discussion of this work will appear in the new peer-reviewed journal peer-reviewed journal Refereed journal Academia A professional journal that only publishes articles subjected to a rigorous peer validity review process. Cf Throwaway journal. Breastfeeding Medicine (www.liebertpub.com/bfm), the official journal of the Academy. Current infant and child growth charts have been criticized because they are based on 20-year-old, limited samples of mostly formula-fed infants whose pattern of growth has been demonstrated to deviate substantially from that of healthy breastfed infants. Infants fed artificial milks (formula) put on weight more quickly than those that are breastfed, thereby inaccurately classifying breastfed infants as underweight Underweight An situation where a portfolio does not hold a sufficient amount of securities to satisfy the accepted benchmark of the portfolio's asset allocation strategy. Notes: . Undertaken between 1997 and 2003, the MGRS collected growth and related data from 8,440 healthy breastfed infants and young children from diverse ethnic backgrounds and cultural settings (Brazil, Ghana, India, Norway, Oman, USA). The growth standards developed depict the normal early childhood growth under optimal environmental conditions and can be used to assess children everywhere, regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic status socioeconomic status, n the position of an individual on a socio-economic scale that measures such factors as education, income, type of occupation, place of residence, and in some populations, ethnicity and religion. , and type of feeding. Human milk supports not only healthy growth, but also optimal cognitive development and long-term health. The resulting growth standards are recommended for application to all children independent of type of feeding. Joan Meek MD, MS, RD, FABM FABM Fresh Air By Meldrum , President of the Academy and child nutrition expert noted: "Current research has shown that too rapid growth in infancy is associated with higher blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity later in life. It is well documented that infants grow and develop best on human milk." The manual detailing the methods and development of the WHO Child Growth Standards is available at: www.who.int/bookorders. The actual growth charts are available at: http://www.who.int/childgrowth Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publisher of Breastfeeding Medicine, is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Journal of Women's Health Women's Health Definition Women's health is the effect of gender on disease and health that encompasses a broad range of biological and psychosocial issues. , Obesity Management, and Disease Management. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 60 journals, books, and newsletters is available at www.liebertpub.com. Joan Younger Meek, MD,MS, RD, FABM President, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine 877 990-4ABM Joan.Meek@orhs.org www.bfmed.org |
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