The study of human growth conventionally focuses on the whole body, notably the linear and volumetric measures of height and weight, plus the derived ratio body mass index (weight/height2). Body volume and body surface area are also important for some aspects of nutrition, either measured directly or estimated from weight and height. By contrast linear dimensions of body parts are studied for particular purposes, e.g. head circumference, sitting height or triceps skinfold thickness, but weights or volumes of body parts, particularly organs, are not routinely considered in the same way. The reason why is obvious — they are difficult to measure non-invasively, and before the relatively recent technological advances that have occurred in ultrasound and imaging they could only be measured at post-mortem. For this reason paediatric pathology has in the past tended to be the discipline most knowledgeable about organ development.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bogin B (2001) The Growth of Humanity. Wiley-Liss, New York.
Winick M, Coscia A, Noble A (1967) Cellular growth in human placenta. I. Normal placental growth. Pediatrics 39:248–251.
Winick M (1968) Changes in nucleic acid and protein content of the human brain during growth. Fed Res 2:352–325.
O’Rahilly R, Müller F (1986) Human growth during the embryonic period proper. In: Falkner F and Tanner JM, eds. Human Growth A Comprehensive Treatise. 2nd ed. Plenum Press, New York, pp. 245–253.
Chitty LS, Altman DG (2002) Charts of fetal size: limb bones. Br J Obstet Gynaecol 109:919–929.
Hansen K, Sung CJ, Huang C, Pinar H, Singer DB, Oyer CE (2003) Reference values for second trimester fetal and neonatal organ weights and measurements. Pediatr Dev Pathol 6:160–167.
Singer DB, Sung C-R, Wigglesworth JS (1998) Fetal growth and maturation: with standards for body and organ development. In: Wigglesworth J.S. and Singer D.B., eds. Textbook of Fetal and Perinatal Pathology. 2nd ed. Blackwell Science, Oxford, pp. 8–40.
Garden AS, Roberts N (1996) Fetal and fetal organ volume estimations with magnetic resonance imaging. Am J Obstet Gynecol 175:442–448.
Duncan KR, Baker PN, Johnson IR (1997) Estimation of fetal lung volume using enhanced 3-dimensional ultrasound: a new method and first result. Br J Obstet Gynaecol 104:971–972.
Duncan KR, Sahota DS, Gowland PA et al (2001) Multilevel modeling of fetal and placental growth using echo-planar magnetic resonance imaging. J Soc Gynecol Investig 8:285–290.
de Jong PA, Nakano Y, Lequin MH et al (2003) Estimation of lung growth using computed tomography. Eur Respir J 22:235–238.
Holliday MA (1986) 5. Body composition and energy needs during growth. In: Falkner F. and Tanner J.M., eds. Human Growth a Comprehensive Treatise. 2nd ed. Plenum Press, New York, pp. 101–117.
Hindmarsh PC, Geary MPP, Rodeck CH, Kingdom JCP, Cole TJ (2002) Intrauterine growth and its relationship to size and shape at birth. Ped Res 52:263–268.
Cole TJ, Freeman JV, Preece MA (1998) British 1990 growth reference centiles for weight, height, body mass index and head circumference fitted by maximum penalized likelihood. Stat Med 17:407–429.
Guihard-Costa AM, Droulle P, Thiebaugeorges O, Hascoet JM (2000) A longitudinal study of fetal growth variability. Biol Neonate 78:8–12.
Scott JP (1986) Critical periods in organizational processes. In: Falkner F and Tanner JM, eds. Human Growth a Comprehensive Treatise. 2nd ed. Plenum Press, New York: pp. 181–196.
Winick M, Noble A (1965) Quantitative changes in DNA, RNA, and protein during prenatal and postnatal growth in the rat. Dev Biol 12:451–466.
Widdowson EM, Crabb DE, Milner RDG (1972) Cellular development of some human organs before birth. Arch Dis Child 47:652–655.
Brasel JA, Gruen RK (1986) Cellular growth: brain, heart, lung, liver, and skeletal muscle. In: Falkner, F and Tanner, JM, eds. Human Growth a Comprehensive Treatise. 2nd ed. Plenum Press, New York, pp. 53–65.
Ong KKL, Ahmed ML, Emmett PM, Preece MA, Dunger DB (2000) Association between postnatal catch-up growth and obesity in childhood: prospective cohort study. BMJ 320:967–971.
Tanaka T, Matsuzaki A, Kuromaru R et al (2001) Association between birthweight and body mass index at 3 years of age. Pediatr Int 43:641–646.
Gunnarsdottir I, Thorsdottir I (2003) Relationship between growth and feeding in infancy and body mass index at the age of 6 years. Int J Obes 27:1523–1527.
Stettler N, Zemel BS, Kumanyika S, Stallings VA (2002) Infant weight gain and childhood overweight status in a multicenter, cohort study. Pediatrics 109:194–199.
Bergmann KE, Bergmann RL, von Kries R et al (2003) Early determinants of childhood overweight and adiposity in a birth cohort study: role of breast-feeding. Int J Obes 27:162–172.
Prentice AM, Paul AA, Prentice A, Black AE, Cole TJ, Whitehead RG (1986) Cross-cultural differences in lactational performance. In: Hamosh M and Goldman AS, eds. Human Lactation 2: Maternal and Environmental Factors. Plenum Press, New York, pp. 13–44.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science + Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cole, T.J. (2009). Growth and Organ Development. In: Goldberg, G., Prentice, A., Prentice, A., Filteau, S., Simondon, K. (eds) Breast-Feeding: Early Influences on Later Health. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 639. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8749-3_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8749-3_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-8748-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-8749-3
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)