Growth, Malnutrition, and Mortality of the Infant and Toddler in the Asai Valley of the New Guinea Highlands

Abstract

Length, weight, and skin-fold thickness values for age for the infant and toddler of the Asai valley of New Guinea are probably lower than those previously reported for any population in any part of the world. This finding is associated with a high toddler mortality, and, despite the almost complete absence of clinical malnutrition, is evidence of a high level of nutritional deprivation in this community. The small weight difference between sexes indicates that faster growing male children are more affected than female children in such conditions. A significantly higher mortality in male toddlers, compared with female, from other areas is strongly suggestive evidence of this different sex sensitivity to malnutrition. It is also evidence that a high toddler mortality rate from malnutrition produces, through natural selection, a slow-growing, short-statured population, adapted to conditions of suboptimal nutrition.