A study which examined mothers, their health and size of their newborns, found that they have babies of similar size - regardless of differences in their race, ethnicity or where they live.
This means the global disparity in baby size reflects the health and wealth gaps, rather than race and ethnicity as previously thought. These findings, reported by Oxford University researchers, were determined by examining nearly 60,000 pregnancies in urban areas in India, China, Brazil, Kenya, Oman, the UK, USA and Italy.
Lead author Professor Jose Villar of the Nuffield Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Oxford and colleagues showed that it is not race or ethnicity that is the precursor for low birth weight, but rather the health and nutrition of the birthing mother that determines a baby's birth weight, regardless of which part of the world she resides in.
"Currently we are not all equal at birth. But we can be," says lead author Professor Jose Villar. "We can create a similar start for all by making sure mothers are well educated and nourished, by treating infection and by providing adequate antenatal care."
Professor Ruyan Pang, from Peking University, China, said that the results fit perfectly with the existing WHO Infant and Child Growth Standards, moreover having international standards of optimal growth from conception to 5 years of age that everyone in the world could use meant it would now be possible to evaluate improvements in health and nutrition using the same yardstick.
The ultimate goal of the study is to create international standards for babies' optimal growth.
