Use of WHO Growth Standards Rather Than Locally Specific Linear Growth Curves Promotes Equity in Pediatric Growth Research for Children Younger Than 5 Years
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Author(s)
Finaret, Amelia B.
Taylor-Forde, Precious
Date Issued
June 16, 2025
Abstract
There is strong evidence that healthy children around the world grow according to the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards when they benefit from healthy environments, regardless of race, ethnicity, or nationality. Despite this, arguments still exist in the scientific literature that child growth curves specific to local populations are necessary. We use a narrative review of the literature on child growth to focus on articles in which different, locally specific child growth curves have been developed or recommended. We synthesize the arguments against a universal child growth standard to provide an understanding of these problematic claims, in the context of new efforts to address remaining echoes of scientific racism in the field of nutrition and other biomedical sciences. Child nutrition assessment should take place using high-quality tools and metrics that do not depend on race, ethnicity, or nationality.
Journal
Nutrition Reviews
Department
Global Health Studies
Citation
Amelia B Finaret, Precious Taylor-Forde, Use of WHO Growth Standards Rather Than Locally Specific Linear Growth Curves Promotes Equity in Pediatric Growth Research for Children Younger Than 5 Years, Nutrition Reviews, 2025;, nuaf091, https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuaf091
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Version of Article
Published version
DOI
10.1093/nutrit/nuaf091
ISSN
0029-6643
1753-4887
nuaf091
Rights
© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Life Sciences Institute. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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