Stunting is not a synonym of malnutrition

WHO documents characterize stunting as, “…impaired growth and development that children experience from poor nutrition, repeated infection, and inadequate psychosocial stimulation.” The equation of stunting with malnutrition is common. This contrasts with historic and modern observations indicating that growth in height is largely independent of the extent and nature of the diet. We measured 1716 Indonesian children, aged 6.0–13.2 years, from...