New research from Dr Jonas Fooken and his Master student Link Vo shows that patterns of malnutrition are changing following economic development in Asian economies.
While previously described by a high prevalence of undernutrition in households, a double burden of concurrent overnutrition and undernutrition is becoming more common in this region as increasing numbers of households include stunted children, a reliable indicator of absolute nutritional deprivation in children, and overweight mothers.
Fooken and Vo’s analysis indicates that economic growth plays a comparatively minor role in directly causing this pattern. Instead, economic development appears to contribute to malnutrition indirectly by changing eating habits towards the consumption of high-energy but low-micronutrient foods. Furthermore, household-level factors, particularly wealth and education, both of which are influenced by economic growth indirectly, contribute to the rise in the double burden in Asia.
Study highlights
- Increasing rates of Asian households with overweight mothers and stunted children.
- Economic growth and the dual burden of malnutrition are correlated.
- rising rates of the double burden primarily appear to be determined on the household level.
- This indicates that policies are more promising if they address how household-level characteristics channel the effect of economic development as a determinant of SCOM (stunted child and overweight mother).
