Impacts of Undernutrition

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Impacts of Undernutrition

• Text extracted from
• The World Food Problem
• Leathers Foster, 2004

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Delayed Menarche

• Undernourished girls produce less estrogen
• Associated with body fat
• Lower estrogen delays the age of menstruation
• USA 12.8 yrs old
• Rural India 14.4 yrs old
• Rwanda 17 yrs old

3
Breast Feeding as Birth Control(Lactational
Amenorrhea)

• Prolactin stimulates breast milk
• Also suppresses ovulation
• Producing breast milk also reduces fat storage
• Thus reduces estrogen
• Thus impedes ovulation
• Very effective for 6-12 months after birth
• Most important form of birth control in
  developing world

4
Low Birth Weight Babies

• Born to undernourished mothers
• PEM
• Iron deficiency
• Much more likely to die in first year
• Early nutrition in girls life can affect baby

5
Breast Feeding

• Improves babys health
• Contains all nutrients
• Fights infection
• Antibodies in milk
• Guaranteed food supply
• No competition with other family members
• Sanitary food supply
• 1.5 million children in developing world die
  because they are not breast fed

6
AIDS and Breast Feeding

• Breast milk can pass AIDS virus
• More likely if mother has vitamin A deficiency
• 32 if deficiency
• 7 if normal
• Bottle alternative may be less safe

Mother and child with AIDS
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Impact of Undernutrition on Infant Mortality

• Probability of dying by age 5
• 15.5 in least developed nations
• 0.85 in industrialized nations
• Diarrhea leading killer
• Pneumonia
• Influenza
• Bronchitis
• Whooping cough
• Measles
• Malnutrition contributes to ½ of these deaths in
  developing world

Infant Mortality
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Impact of Undernutrition on Intellectual
Development

• Protein supplements given during pregnancy
• Improved cognitive function in children through
  age 6-7 yrs.
• IQ reduced by childs deficiency in
• Iron
• Iodine
• Protein

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Impact of Undernutrition on Education

• Missed school days
• Special education needs
• Low test scores
• Repeated grades
• Attention deficit disorder
• Decreased attention span
• Impaired memory
• Disobedience
• Distractibility
• Reduced progress

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Impact of Undernutrition on Labor Productivity

• Work capacity drops severely
• Calorie deficiency
• Iron deficiency
• More likely unemployed
• Taller individuals
• Better nourished
• More productive
• Stronger

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Malnutrition in the Developing World

• 30 of the developing world suffer from one or
  more forms of malnutrition

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Number of Undernourished Dropping

• 918 million
• 1970s
• 906 million
• 1980s
• 800 million
• 2000
• Biggest drop in Asia
• 25 drop
• Least drop sub- Saharan Africa
• 5 drop

Kosovo refugees
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Seasonality of Undernutrition

• Grain prices lowest right after harvest
• Nutrition good
• 2,000 Calories/day in Mozambique
• Then supplies dwindle
• Grain prices highest before harvest
• Hungry season
• 1,430 Calories/day in Mozambique
• Foraging for wild foods increases

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Criteria for worst-off countries

• Calories/person
• Kinshasa, Burundi, Eritrea, Somalia, Afghanistan,
  Tajikistan
• Child nutrition
• North Korea, Afghanistan, Burundi, Eritrea,
  Somalia
• Mortality rates for children
• Sierra Leone, Angola, Afghanistan
• Low Birth weight babies
• Bangladesh, Haiti, Yemen, India

Rural Bangladesh Women
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What Kinds of People are Undernourished?

• Rural poor
• 65 of people are rural in low income countries
• Children
• Especially weaning
• Pregnant, Lactating women
• Girls
• Food diverted to brothers
• Uneducated families
• Large families
• Elderly