|4th Report on the World Nutrition Situation - Nutrition
throughout the Life Cycle (ACC/SCN, 2000, 138 p.)| Dramatic
changes are taking place within the nutrition community. New
scientific evidence on the generational and intergenerational
links between nutritional status at different stages of the life
cycle is compelling. Undernourished adolescent girls and women
give birth to underweight and often stunted babies. These
infants are less able to learn as young children and are more
likely themselves to be parents to infants with intra-uterine
growth retardation and low birthweight. Moreover they are less
able to generate livelihoods and are less well equipped to
resist chronic disease in later life. Such life-cycle and
intergenerational links demand sustained, long-term ameliorative
action. In this regard, the emergence of the human rights
paradigm provides powerful guidance in the formulation of
appropriate policies and programmes. Dramatic changes are also
taking place in the world as we enter a new millen