Nutrition of the growing child- It is our call

Infants and children are considered more vulnerable to poor nutrition when compared to adults. Many factors in varying proportions contribute to this during childhood and adolescence. Poor stores of fat and protein, extra nutritional demands for growth, reduced intake and increased demand during illness are probably the most important of these. Ensuring adequate intake of food is of paramount importance as early nutritional deficiency and poor food habit formation are likely to lead to anomalies in linear growth thus causing vulnerability to malnutrition and predisposition to illness in adult life.