Introduction: the window of opportunity

The United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition recently stated that "while undernutrition kills in early life, it also leads to a high risk of disease and death later in life. This double burden of malnutrition has common causes, inadequate fetal and infant and young child nutrition followed by exposure (including through marketing practices) to unhealthy energy dense nutrient poor foods and lack of physical activity. The window of opportunity lies from pre-pregnancy to around 24 mo of a child's age.