Derrick B Jelliffe

Introduction: Perspectives and Needs

As with all multiauthor publications, the present volume expresses many viewpoints, which is both inevitable and necessary in a subject so diffuse and with so many different perspectives as nutrition and growth. Each author has, of course, expressed his or her own views. In some cases, these views differ because some are concerned with individuals and others with communities. Often no absolute “answers” exist, but depend on the purpose of the measurements being made—for example, the levels (or standards) of reference used in assessing growth, or the dietary allowances considered as “normal.”