Mycotoxin exposure, intestinal inflammation and childhood stunting in India

儿童发育迟缓被世界卫生大会认定为“人类发展的最大障碍之一”，其到2025年将全球发育迟缓率降低40%的目标现在被认为是无法实现的。当儿童在幼年时期发育受损时，认知能力的后期发展也会受到影响，儿童被认为不能充分发挥他们的潜力。儿童生命的前1000天对于决定其以后的发展至关重要。因此，当务之急是确定导致儿童发育迟缓的多种因素，了解它们之间的相互关系，并治疗它们的路径原因。营养不良是儿童发育迟缓的一个明显的危险因素，但简单的营养干预不能解决问题。多种饮食和环境风险因素可能起到作用，在这项研究中，我们的目标是解开这些复杂的联系。儿童成长的环境，关于获得清洁水和基本卫生设施，以及获得营养和安全的食物，可能有助于儿童消化道的健康功能，这将促进儿童对食物的利用，从而促进儿童的生长和发育。因此，拟议的项目旨在跟踪儿童从出生到两岁和两到五岁的情况，并将儿童生长、健康状况和肠道功能的多项指标与膳食摄入量和接触食物污染物联系起来。这项研究将在印度南部发育迟缓普遍存在的农村地区进行。这项研究将确定导致儿童发育迟缓的主要因素，并将提供必要的信息，以指导未来旨在改善受影响地区儿童生活的干预计划，从而实现世卫组织儿童发展目标。

Childhood stunting is recognised as 'one of the most significant impediments to human development' by the World Health Assembly and its aim to reduce global stunting rates by 40% by 2025 is now deemed unachievable. When growth is impaired in children at an early age, later development of cognitive capacity is also impacted and children are thought not to be able to reach their full potential. The first 1000 days of a child's life are crucial to determining the development in later life. Hence it is imperative that the multiple factors contributing to childhood stunting are identified, their interrelation understood and their route cause treated.Undernutrition is an obvious risk factor for childhood stunting, but simple nutritional interventions have failed to solve the problem. Multiple dietary and environmental risk factors are likely to contribute, and in this study we aim to unpick these complex links.The environment a child grows up in regarding access to clean water and basic sanitation as well as access to nutritious and safe food are likely to contribute to the healthy functioning of the child's digestive tract which will facilitate the utilisation of foods for the growth and development of the child.Hence the proposed project aims to follow children from birth up to two years of age and from two to five years of age and link multiple measures of child growth, health status and intestinal function with dietary intakes and exposure food contaminants. The study will be conducted in rural areas of southern India where stunting is prevalent.This study will identify the main contributors to stunting in children and will provide the necessary information to guide future intervention programmes aimed at improving the lives of children in affected areas and hence addressing the WHO childhood development targets.