Grappling with issues at the heart of childhood malnutrition in developing countries, international nutrition experts at UC Davis have prepared a new book for UNICEF and the World Health Organization. The publication, titled "Complementary Feeding of Young Children in Developing Countries," was recently published by the World Health Organization. It will be used by the United Nations agencies to stimulate and guide creation of national programs to improve child-feeding practices in low-income countries. The book focuses on the importance of breast-feeding and the appropriate time for introducing complementary foods, the first foods given to infants in addition to breast milk. It also deals with the best composition of these foods, simple food-processing technologies, appropriate child feeding behaviors and programmatic issues concerned with implementing the recommendations. "Studies indicate that growth-stunting due to malnutrition occurs during a narrow window of a child's development, usually between the first few months after birth and 2 years," said Dr. Kenneth Brown, the book's co-author as well as director of the Program in International Nutrition. "We hope this publication will provide health professionals, policy makers and nutrition-program managers with the latest research information they need to optimize the quality of food that children eat and enhance their nutritional status." Brown and co-authors Kathryn Dewey and Lindsay Allen, both UC Davis nutrition professors, note that in developing countries more than one-third of all children under age 5 experience growth-stunting as a result of being undernourished. Additionally, poor nutrition contributes to impaired immune function, increased infections, delayed motor development, weakened mental function and school performance, and higher risk of early death. Journalists may obtain copies of the book by contacting the UC Davis Program in International Nutrition at (530) 752-1992.