Nutrition and Growth Nutrition and Growth defines the parameters of normal growth and addresses the specific nutritional requirements to support adequate growth, the major nutritional concerns of childhood, and the impact of nutrition on body composition, as well as providing age-appropriate guidelines.

Module Content:

* Normal growth: nutritional requirements and assessment

* Dietary guidance during infancy, childhood and adolescence

* Absorption of fluid, electrolytes, and macronutrients

* Bone mineralization: Calcium, Phosphorus, Vitamin D

* Protein quality and availability

* Body composition: from obesity to eating disorders

* Nutritional concerns in childhood

Case Studies: 2-year-old with failure to thrive, 7-year-old with cystic fibrosis, 14-year-old with an eating disorder

Learning Objectives:

After completing this module, you should be able to:

1. Utilize and interpret growth charts: define normal and abnormal growth.

2. Explain how adequate macro- and micro- nutrients support growth throughout childhood.

3. List consequences of undernutrition on growth and describe failure to thrive.

4. Describe the impact of nutrition on body composition.

5. List common nutritional deficiencies at different ages.

6. Provide age-appropriate dietary guidelines.

7. Describe the absorption of fluids/electrolytes/carbohydrates/fat.