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“人类发展的最严重障碍之一”，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。当儿童在早期发育受到损害时，认知能力的后期发展也会受到影响，儿童被认为无法充分发挥其潜力。儿童生命的最初1000天对其今后的发展至关重要。因此，必须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，并治疗它们的病因。营养不良是儿童发育迟缓的一个明显的危险因素，但简单的营养干预并不能解决这个问题。多种饮食和环境风险因素可能起作用，在这项研究中，我们的目标是解开这些复杂的联系。儿童在获得清洁水和基本卫生设施以及获得营养和安全食品方面的成长环境可能有助于儿童消化道的健康功能，这将有助于利用食物促进儿童的生长和发育。因此，拟议的项目旨在跟踪从出生到两岁以及从两岁到五岁的儿童，并将儿童生长、健康状况和肠道功能的多种措施与饮食摄入和接触食物污染物联系起来。这项研究将在发育迟缓普遍存在的印度南部农村地区进行。这项研究将查明导致儿童发育迟缓的主要因素，并将提供必要的信息，指导未来的干预规划，以改善受影响地区儿童的生活，从而实现世卫组织的儿童发展目标。

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.