The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized obesity as a worldwide epidemic affecting more than 500 million adults and paradoxically coexisting with undernutrition in both developing and industrialized countries.
Microbiota assembly is perturbed in children with undernutrition, resulting in persistent microbiota immaturity that is not rescued by current nutritional interventions.
Elsewhere, developing countries are dealing with what many experts call a nutrition transition economies that are used to dealing primarily with undernutrition must now fight obesity.
There is a strong association between food poverty and stunting among children aged 6 11 months (p<0.01), while assets poverty and subjective poverty have stronger relationships (p<0.01) with undernutrition at older age (24 months or older for assets poverty, and 12 months or older for subjective poverty).
There was no evidence to suggest that urban residence was associated with undernutrition once household wealth, maternal education and caste were included in the model.
Although more than half of all childhood deaths in low income countries are associated with undernutrition [15], this alone does not represent the total burden of food insecurity.
Obesity is becoming an increasingly prevalent problem in Pakistan, as it has in other developing countries, with undernutrition remaining a problem simultaneously.
There is animal [35], [36], [37] and human [38] data that supports this, with undernutrition in early pregnancy being associated generally with increased placental weight relative to that of the fetus and there is some evidence that undernutrition in late pregnancy can be associated with a decreased placenta to fetus weight ratio.
The disease poses a serious threat to child survival, especially when coupled with undernutrition.
Nearly half of all under-five deaths are associated with undernutrition.
However, helminth infection was not associated with undernutrition in all age groups.
