Malnutrition - over and under

While the correct definition of malnutrition is insufficient, excessive, or imbalanced consumption of nutrients, in this blog I almost always refer to the under-nutrition of malnutrition. I'm admittedly only covering one side of the issue, even though over-nutrition, obesity, is a huge and growing (pun intended) problem around the world. All malnutrition is dangerous to health and can lead to serious short-term and long-tem problems.

In India while under-nutrition affects the most people, over-nutrition is of serious concern as well, almost exclusively affecting upper classes.

A new study has been released today in which data from approximately 40,000 men and 60,000 women in Mumbai was analyzed and it was determined that nearly 1 in every 5 men and women were underweight at the same time that another 1 and 5 men and 30% of women were overweight. Thinness was associated with low levels of education while heaviness was associated with higher levels of education. Here's a link to the study: http://www.id21.org/health/h3hs2g1.html

Here are some more statistics from the National Family Household Survey III which I found illuminating on the malnutrition status of Indians:

• -Nationally, 45% of children under three are stunted, 40% are underweight, and 23% are wasted
• 79% of children in India are anemic - risk for anemia is almost the same for wealthy and poor households
• only 28% of children received any services at anganwadi centers in the past year (even though coverage is reported at 62%)
• 33% of women and 24% of men are vegetarians
• the highest prevalence state for obesity in women is Punjab followed by Delhi and Kerala - obesity is on the rise in wealthly women and Sikh women
• 41% of women in rural areas are underweight and 25% of women in urban areas are underweight
• 7% of women in rural areas are overweight and 24% of women in urban areas are underweight
• the more education a woman has, the more likely she is to be obese - 7% of women with no education are obese, compared to 24% of women with more than 12 years of education. same goes for wealth

These figures prove that across India, rich or poor, urban or rural, men or women, malnutrition (over and under) is one of the most serious health problems in the country and one that is being under-addressed.