This outstanding new edition serves as an excellent compendium of information for all who are interested in maternal, infant, and childhood nutrition. The book reviews various scientific studies which link poor nutrition to permanent neurological damage and other handicapping conditions, discusses the pertinent medical phenomena, and unequivocally demonstrates that infant and childhood death and permanent neurological impairment are primary effects of malnutrition during pregnancy and early postnatal life. Major sections include: the effects of starvation on reproductive casualty, the influence of prenatal nutrition on maternal and infant health, the Motherwell Protocol, physiological and pathophysiological effects of malnutrition, birth weight and development, the correlation of prenatal and paranatal complications with neurological disorders, the relation of maternal health to infant health and development, nutrition during infancy and early childhood, and the biological imperative. Two new chapters have been added that assess important programs of nutritional supplementation and management of pregnancy. Those interested in the role of nutrition on reproduction will also find a mass of valid scientific data from studies of human development. Written in simple language, the book is a forceful presentation on the subject and will be stimulating reading for both the professional and the layman.