Childhood Malnutrition in India

Part 1: The Science of Nutrition and Malnutrition.

Today’s post is number three in the run-up to my International Reporting Project trip to India where I will be part of a team of 10 journalists covering the topic of child survival. First, I addressed Infectious Diseases, then Vaccinations. Today, we will look at Malnutrition. What is the state of malnutrition in India? How has scientific understanding of what good nourishment means helped us work on the malnourishment issue particularly in developing nations? Can science put an end to world hunger? How are sanitation and hygiene related to malnutrition?

Before we go on, let’s define a few terms so there is no confusion:

  • Malnutrition is the condition that occurs when your body does not get enough nutrients.
  • Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient, and  vitamin  intake.
  • Famine is a widespread scarcity of food, usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality.
  • Emaciation is abnormal thinness caused by lack of nutrition or by disease.
  • Marasmus is chronic wasting of body tissues, especially in young children, commonly due to prolonged dietary deficiency of protein and calories.
  • Kwashiorkor is a syndrome occurring in infants and young children soon after weaning. It is due to severe protein deficiency, and the symptoms include edema, pigmentation changes of skin and hair, impaired growth and development, distention of the abdomen, and pathologic liver changes.