Nutrition during first 1,000 days of life crucial for childhood and economic development

"A new Lancet series on maternal and childhood nutrition finds that over 3 million children die every year of malnutrition—accounting for nearly half of all child deaths under 5. Along with state-of-the-art global estimates on the long-term burden of malnutrition, the series presents a new framework for prevention and treatment that considers underlying factors, such as food security, social conditions, resources, and governance. Professor Robert Black, Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, led the consortium of experts who produced this series—a follow-up to the groundbreaking 2008 Lancet Nutrition Series, which revealed how pivotal the first 1,000 days—from the start of pregnancy until the child's second birthday—are to the well-being of both the individual and the society in which he or she lives...."
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-nutrition-days-life-crucial-childhood.html