Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42666064›Full record

ReviewBirth defects research2026

Food-Borne Environmental Contaminants, Intestinal Injury, and Early Childhood Stunting: A Developmental Toxicology Perspective.

Tian Kai Zhang, Yan Xia Qu, Jian Lin Li, Jing Han Wang, Xing Long Ren, Zhi Tao Lu

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Birth defects research, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

6 authors.

Tian Kai ZhangHuixian Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Xinxiang, Henan Province, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8284-244X
Yan Xia QuHuixian Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Xinxiang, Henan Province, China.
Jian Lin LiHuixian Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Xinxiang, Henan Province, China.
Jing Han WangNursing College of Henan Medical University, Xinxiang, Henan Province, China.
Xing Long RenHuixian Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Xinxiang, Henan Province, China.
Zhi Tao LuHuixian Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Xinxiang, Henan Province, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundChildhood stunting (height-for-age z-score < -2 SD) remains a global developmental health burden. Traditional interventions centered on nutrition and infection have reached a bottleneck. Emerging evidence identifies chronic low-dose dietary environmental toxins as an independent, modifiable risk factor for early-life growth restriction.

methodsThis review synthesizes cohort studies, meta-analyses, and in vivo toxicological models published over the past decade to characterize exposures to mycotoxins, toxic heavy metals, and food-borne endocrine disruptors that are closely associated with stunting.

resultsMulti-layered mechanisms are elucidated, including environmental enteric dysfunction (EED), intestinal barrier disruption, persistent subclinical inflammation, GH-IGF-1 axis disturbance, gut microbiota dysbiosis, oxidative stress, and epigenetic alterations, which collectively impair linear growth. Critical surveillance gaps are identified, and integrated environment-nutrition-infection intervention strategies aligned with public health practice are proposed.

conclusionsDietary environmental toxins cause irreversible developmental deficits by damaging intestinal function and disrupting endocrine regulation. Strengthening developmental toxicology-oriented monitoring and source control will support precise prevention of early childhood stunting within the critical first 1000-day window.

Indexed as

Food ContaminationGrowth DisordersIntestinesAnimalsChild, PreschoolEndocrine DisruptorsEnvironmental ExposureEnvironmental PollutantsHumansMycotoxinsEndocrine DisruptorsEnvironmental PollutantsMycotoxinschildhood stuntingdevelopmental toxicityearly life exposureenvironmental enteric dysfunctionfood‐borne contaminantsGH‐IGF‐1 axisintestinal barrier

Identifiers

PMID42666064
PMCPMC13525387

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.