'These data demonstrate that the brains of well-nour-
ished Chilean children who died accidentally contain the same number of cells as the brains of chilnrcn
accidentally dying in the United States. In contrast,
children who died of severe malnutrition (marasmus)
during the first year of life showed a reduced DNA
content in brain. The data also suggest that the younger
the child when malnutrition strikes, the more marked
the effects. The three children in this study who
weighed less than 2,000 grams at birth had a 60 %
reduction in DNA content in brain. These results imply
either that the brain of a very small infant may be more
sensitive to severe postnatal malnutrition or that intra-
uterine malnutrition had already occurred in these
three infants. Better prenatal case histories will have
to be collected to separate these possibilities.
The retardation in brain growth in all nine children