El Niño Blamed For Stunted Growth Of Peruvian Children
Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - 09:20
in Health & Medicine
Epidemiologists have linked El Niño, a recurring pattern where every 2-7 years warm waters in the Equatorial Pacific change the weather, to short stature, also known as stunting, which is usually due to chronic malnutrition. The authors found that children born in coastal Peru during and after the 1997-98 El Niño, the last strong one, have a lower height-for-age than others born before the event. El Niño has also been linked to epidemics of malaria, dengue fever, cholera and diarrhea, though the first recorded one was in 1525, so they have been happening a lot longer than that.. How can the weather stunt growth? read more