21 June part 1

I know this is not fresh news, but i want to save all news of interest in this blog. So here goes.


This report is from Times ofindia. Am quoting bits of it here:
Full article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1508234.cms

For the last 40 years, doctors across the globe depended on the World Health Organisation’s paediatric growth chart to advise mothers about their baby’s ideal weight. Now, it has been found to be grossly defective. And, for the first time ever, WHO has admitted to having given potentially harmful advice on infant nutrition to breast-feeding mothers.
Due to the faulty chart, mothers were wrongly told that their babies were underweight. This led to overfeeding of the new born babies, making them obese and prone to heart diseases in later life…
…The fact is babies fed on formula milk put on weight much faster. This resulted in normal weighing newborns fed on breast milk being found to be underweight according to the PGC. This led to doctors wrongly advising mothers to fatten their babies by giving them formula milk or extra solids. Sometimes, they were also advised to stop breast feeding the child as early as in the sixth month of birth, and instead to feed it with bottled milk.

For breast fed babies, The new chart says a one-year-old boy should weigh between 7.7 kg and 12 kg. The old chart said the weight should be between 8.1 kg and 12.4 kg. A oneyear-old girl’s weight should be 7-11.5 kg against 7.4 to 11.6 kg of the old chart.

~Murali