Low and middle income countries facing both obesity and malnutrition
Kathmandu, December 16
Low-income and middle-income countries have been facing malnutrition—overnutrition (overweight and obesity) and undernutrition (stunting and wasting)—as per the report published in The Lancet.
The report also revealed that such problems were seen in all levels of the population—country, city, community, household, and individual due to modern food system. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are most affected with the malnutrition.
Through rapid global nutrition transition, an increasing proportion of individuals are exposed to different forms of malnutrition during the life course and have the double burden of malnutrition (DBM) directly, the report said.
Such problems are caused by the access to the global market for the ultra-processed foods, while people doing less physical exercise, as per the report that also estimated that about 2.3 billion children and adults in the world are overweight, while about 149 million children have been facing problems of stunted growth, while suboptimal diets are responsible for one in five (22%) adult deaths globally.
This means that 20% of people are overweight, 30% of children under four are not growing properly, and 20% of women are classified as thin, as per bbc.com.
According to the report, 45 out of 123 countries were affected by the burden of malnutrition in the 1990s, and 48 out of 126 countries in the 2010s.
By the 2010s, 14 countries with some of the lowest incomes in the world had developed this 'double problem' since the 1990s.
The report also suggested that undernutrition and overnutrition are interconnected and, therefore, double-duty actions that simultaneously address more than one dimension must be implemented for policy solutions to be effective.
