The journal is receiving many papers on childhood nutrition. The editorial board has therefore decided to dedicate a number of issues of the journal to research on children's nutritional health, interventions in children, and policy implications. This issue is especially targeting research on children of pre-school age or younger.
The first paper involves monitoring and surveillance from the perspective of child growth(Reference de Onis, Onyango and Borghi1). It is a very important paper, pointing at the large number of countries that have adopted the new growth standards based on breast-fed children.
Assessment is dealt with in papers related to physical activity(Reference Bayer, Jarczok and Fischer2), possession score v. poverty index(Reference Rohner, Tschannen and Northrop-Clewes3) and a nutrition knowledge questionnaire(Reference Vereecken, De Pauw and Van Cauwenbergh4). Breast-feeding is of course an important part of this issue, looking at links between breast-feeding and adiposity(Reference Gopinath, Subramanian and Flood5) and the father's role in breast-feeding support(Reference Nickerson, Sykes and Fung6).
The very hot topic of cognition and nutrition is dealt with in two papers(Reference McAfee, Mulhern and McSorley7, Reference Chatzi, Papadopoulou and Koutra8). Childhood nutrition of course includes issues of undernutrition(Reference Zongrone, Winskell and Menon9, Reference Masibo and Makoka10), stunting(Reference Fenn, Bulti and Nduna11), general growth(Reference Thakwalakwa, Ashorn and Jawati12) and nutrient status(Reference Abdul-Razzak, Khoursheed and Altawalbeh13, Reference Hotz, Chileshe and Siamusantu14). Among the interventions, the interested reader can find a folic acid intervention during pregnancy(Reference Chatzi, Papadopoulou and Koutra8) and a nutrition and physical activity intervention in 2–4-year-olds(Reference De Coen, De Bourdeaudhuij and Vereecken15). Effects of a change in foods approved by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) on food sales are described(Reference Ayala, Laska and Zenk16), and last but not least, an important paper on the targeting of children in marketing of foods(Reference Mehta, Phillips and Ward17) is included in this issue. We wish you a good time reading this issue; and trust that you will find good use for the included papers and perhaps of the complete issue in teaching or in your own research.