The purpose of this study was to create growth evaluation charts for 3 physical characteristics (height, weight and skin-fold thickness) for 2 to 6 years old boys and girls from the major castes (high/middle and low castes) in Nepal. We used the LMS method of Cole and Green (1992), Ohsawa et al. (2011) for standardization. This is the first time in Nepal that standard growth values have been derived from real measurements. The Nepalese government has been distributing growth evaluation charts that did not include height, and that were created using values very similar to the standard weight values used by the WHO. Furthermore, sex and caste differences are ignored, making it very likely that children evaluated with this chart would be mistakenly evaluated as delayed growth or underweight. This could also result in unnecessary worry for those educators and healthcare workers giving nutrition and health guidance for children. When we plotted the standardized weight values from this study for 2 to 3 year old girls from the low caste on the Nepalese government-issued growth evaluation chart, our 3rd percentile values were consistently 1 kg below the chart values. In order to accurately evaluate the growth of Nepalese children, new growth evaluation charts are necessary：charts scientifically derived from measurements not only of weight, but also height, skin-fold thickness, etc. for children of both sexes and from the different castes. We would like to propose the adoption of these new charts to the relevant Nepalese institutions and organizations.
