The findings were incidental though, says Dr M K Bhan of the Pediatrics Department in AIIMS. That is, the purpose of the research was to arrive at an internationally acceptable reference point for growth of children. But the study also turned out to be an indicator of a happy development -- the Indian child is not necessarily stunted because of heredity. Healthy environment, good food, clean water, breast feeding in the initial years, a household income of Rs 10,000 and above average educational background of at least one parent add up to make a child almost as healthy as his North American counterpart.

Dr Bhan explains how the survey exercise took off. Allthese years, American growth yardsticks were taken as a reference point for the whole world. So a North American child, who's supposed to be the optimum in physical growth, has been the point of reference even for the developing and under-developed countries, says Dr Bhan.

But this time around, the World Health Organisation (WHO) decided to have a growth chart truly representative of the world. And WHO tied up for the project with AIIMS. The arrangement was something like this: AIIMS, headed by Dr Bhan, would collect the growth data of children, compile the data, arrive at the optimum figures, and find out reasons for growth constraint, if any. In the end, the study would go to WHO for International Growth Reference.

That was a new concept to begin with, and AIIMS took it up willingly. The research team surveyed 19,000 households; measured and weighed 395 children between the age of one and two in South Delhi colonies. Why only South Delhi colonies? Bhan says that in the capital, South Delhi has themaximum concentration of people who are economically sound, and are mostly capable of giving good nutrition, clean water and environment, etc. And since the objective of the survey was to look for the optimum growth level in children, this was a location with maximum potential.

The survey covered South Delhi households, irrespective of ethnicity and background, says Dr Bhan. The only exclusions were jhuggis and slums.

And the findings surprisingly showed that in cases where one of the parents was a post-graduate, the growth performance of the child was almost like that of American children, according to Dr Bhan. But aren't one and two-year-olds too small to be considered for growth reference? No, says Dr Bhan. He adds that the first stage of growth happens only at the age of one and two.

And what exactly does the finding mean? Replies Dr Bhan: ``It means that most constraints to optimum physical growth disappeared when children were given the right kind of environment.'' As an extension, it canbe said that there is a section of Indians which has the potential to be like the North American population in terms of physical growth.

And the fact that this Indian population represents a mixture in caste, creed, religion, and belongs to different regions shows that heredity is not totally responsible for the constraints in growth, Dr Bhan says. There may be some contribution of genetics to growth, but it's not as large as some would suggest, says Dr Bhan. On the other hand, the results of the survey show that given the right kind of environment, growth potential of Indian children is quite like the North American children.

The findings were good news for India and Indians, sums up Dr Bhan. For till now, South Asia was labelled as a mal-nourished region with 40 per cent stunted growth. The widely accepted theory was that quite a bit of stunting was due to genetic constitution of a person. But this survey has, as a reversal of popular belief, shown that a sub-section of the Indian population is growingwell, which is an indicator of economic progress.

Also, there's immediate gain for the people who have been surveyed. These people will now participate in the international growth reference programme, to make way for a more appropriate assessment system for Indians.