Body Size, Adaptation and Function

This is a brief discussion of the "small but healthy" hypothesis proposed by David Seckler in the early 1980s. Four basic points are made. First, adults in developing countries have small body sizes largely as a result of poor diets and infection during childhood. Therefore, to acclaim small body sizes as a desirable attribute for populations is also to affirm that its causes are desirable. Second, monitoring the growth of children is widely recognized as an excellent tool for detecting health problems. Growth retardation, rather than an innocuous response to environmental stimuli, is a warning signal of increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Third, the conditions which give rise to stunted children also affect other aspects such as cognitive development. Finally, stunted girls who survive to be short women are at greater risk of delivering growth retarded infants with a greater probability of dying in infancy. For all these reasons, small is not healthy.