Poor diet means 1 in 3 people across the world are now undernourished

June 14, 2016

Global Nutrition Report 2016 said every country faces a ‘serious challenge’
Study of 129 countries found countries were failing to tackle obesity
Malnutrition is now ‘biggest risk factor for the global burden of disease’

Kate Pickles For Mailonline

Published:
02:19 EST, 14 June 2016

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Updated:
07:22 EST, 14 June 2016

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The world is in the grips of a malnutrition crisis – fuelled by obesity as well as starvation, a new study has warned.

The Global Nutrition Report for 2016 said every country is facing a ‘serious public health challenge’ from malnutrition.

The study of 129 countries found one in three people suffer from malnutrition in some form with it becoming ‘the new normal’.

Malnutrition can take various forms from child stunting and wasting due to starvation or from being overweight

If a person is lacking in micronutirents like iron, folic acid and vitamins, they are classed as malnourished

Malnutrition is a serious condition which occurs when a person’s diet does not contain the right amount of nutrition.

While it is traditionally associated with people not having enough to eat, hundreds of millions of people are now malnourished because they are overweight with too much sugar, salt or cholesterol in their blood.

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The report said malnutrition is the biggest risk factor for the global burden of disease.

While progress has been made in terms of children starving and having stunted growth, the authors of the report said there was a ‘staggering global challenge’ caused by soaring obesity levels.

Professor Corinna Hawkes, who co-chaired the research, told the BBC the study was ‘redefining what the world thinks of as being malnourished’.

‘You have outcomes like you are too thin, you’re not growing fast enough… or it could mean that you’re overweight or you have high blood sugar, which leads to diabetes,’ she said.

One in 3 people in the world are now malnourished either as a result of starvation or poor nutrition through obesity. The chart shows out of 667 million children under 5 worldwide, 41 million are now overweight

The annual study said many countries were on course to reduce stunted growth and the number of underweight children through improvements in agriculture, health care and education as well as water and sanitation.

But it said tackling obesity – linked to a string of diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes – was difficult to address.

Now the number of children under five who are overweight is catching up the number who are underweight.

It concludes that there needs to be more political commitment and investment if the world is to reach nutrition targets.

Co-chairman Lawrence Haddad said: ‘Despite the challenges, malnutrition is not inevitable, ultimately it is a political choice: one which we need leaders across the world to make.

‘It is a world that we must all claim as totally unacceptable.’