Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29748656›Full record

ReviewEuropean journal of clinical nutrition2018

The capacity-load model of non-communicable disease risk: understanding the effects of child malnutrition, ethnicity and the social determinants of health.

Jonathan C K Wells

Abstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in European journal of clinical nutrition, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
54citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
12.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

54 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 90 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Trial
  6. Review
  7. The gut microbiota in malnutrition.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026
    Review
  8. Review
  9. Mechanical Load-Capacity Models for Bone in Youth - Analysis of Risk Signatures.Journal of musculoskeletal & neuronal interactions · 2026
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Jonathan C K WellsChildhood Nutrition Research Centre, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK. Jonathan.Wells@ucl.ac.uk.
University College London · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The capacity-load model is a conceptual model developed to improve understanding of the life-course aetiology of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and their ecological and societal risk factors. The model addresses continuous associations of both (a) nutrition and growth patterns in early life and (b) lifestyle factors at older ages with NCD risk. Metabolic capacity refers to physiological traits strongly contingent on early nutrition and growth during the first 1000 days, which promote the long-term capacity for homeostasis in the context of fuel metabolism and cardiovascular health. Metabolic load refers to components of nutritional status and lifestyle that challenge homeostasis. The higher the load, and the lower the capacity, the greater the NCD risk. The model therefore helps understand dose-response associations of both early development and later phenotype with NCD risk. Infancy represents a critical developmental period, during which slow growth can constrain metabolic capacity, whereas rapid weight gain may elevate metabolic load. Severe acute malnutrition in early childhood (stunting, wasting) may continue to deplete metabolic capacity, and confer elevated susceptibility to NCDs in the long term. The model can be applied to associations of NCD risk with socio-economic position (SEP): lower SEP is generally associated with lower capacity but often also with elevated load. The model can also help explain ethnic differences in NCD risk, as both early growth patterns and later body composition differ systematically between ethnic groups. Recent work has begun to clarify the role of organ development in metabolic capacity, which may further contribute to ethnic differences in NCD risk.

Indexed as

EthnicitySocial Determinants of HealthSocioeconomic FactorsBody CompositionChildChild DevelopmentHomeostasisHumansInfantLife StyleMalnutritionNoncommunicable DiseasesNutritional StatusRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicRisk Factors

Identifiers

PMID29748656
OpenAlexW2800543208

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.