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Influences Of Early Physical Growth: Chapter Analysis

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The segment of the text that I chose to summarize is the section in Chapter 5 about Influences on Early Physical Growth on pages 174 through 178. The complex and ongoing relationship between genetics and environmental factors makes up physical growth. Various factors affect can affect physical growth of young children; some of which being heredity and nutrition. When a child is overall healthy and all their needs are adequately met, heredity governs their height and rate of growth. In fact, body weights are greatly influenced by genetics. In cases where a child does not receive proper nutrition or was plagued by illness, their growth is often affected; however, typically children “catch up” and manage to grow up to a more average size …show more content…

Many children in developing countries suffer from malnutrition and develop dietary diseases. Marasmus usually appears during the first year of life. It occurs when the mother is unable to produce enough breastmilk due to malnutrition, and bottled formula is out of the question. The baby’s poor diet and lack of vital nutrients cause the infant to become dangerously thin and put it at risk of death. Another illness cause by malnutrition is kwashiorkor. This disease usually affects children from ages 1 to 3 years old, and is caused by a diet very low in protein. With kwashiorkor, the body breaks down its own protein reserves, causing swelling and other symptoms. Children who survive these diseases often have lasting damage and grow to be smaller. Additionally, they tend to gain a large amount of weight when their diets improve due to the slow metabolism developed, and due to the disrupted appetite control center in the brain that causes the child to overeat when there is a lot of food. Learning and behavior are strongly impacted because of the malnutrition. The production of neurotransmitters are altered with a deficient diet so children can score low on intelligence tests, show poor fine-motor coordination, and struggle with paying attention (Berk,

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