Malnutrition News and Research

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Malnutrition is a condition which occurs when there is a deficiency of certain vital nutrients in a person’s diet. The deficiency fails to meet the demands of the body leading to effects on the growth, physical health, mood, behaviour and other functions of the body. Malnutrition commonly affects children and the elderly.

Transmission risk for schistosomiasis peaks at higher water temperature

About one billion people worldwide are at risk for schistosomiasis -- a debilitating disease caused by parasitic worms that live in fresh water and in intermediate snail hosts.

9 Mar 2021

Despite modest progress, maternal and child undernutrition remains a key health concern

The Lancet today published the latest Series on Maternal and Child Undernutrition Progress, including three new papers that build upon findings from the previous 2008 and 2013 Series, which established an evidence-based global agenda for tackling undernutrition over the past decade.

8 Mar 2021

Insight into how plants sense zinc could help cultivate more nutritious crops

Over 2 billion people worldwide are malnourished due to zinc deficiency. Led by the University of Copenhagen, an international team of researchers has discovered how plants sense zinc and use this knowledge to enhance plant zinc uptake, leading to an increase in seed zinc content by 50 percent.

5 Mar 2021

Genetic mechanism enables TB-causing bacterium to remember and rapidly respond to stress

Tuberculosis bacteria have evolved to remember stressful encounters and react quickly to future stress, according to a study by computational bioengineers at Rice University and infectious disease experts at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS).

22 Feb 2021

Nanotherapy shows potential for treating severe Crohn's disease

Scientists from the Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago demonstrated that a nanotherapy reduces intestinal inflammation and shrinks lesions in a rodent model of severe Crohn's disease.

17 Feb 2021

Plant breeding can help increase crop productivity, reduce human malnutrition

Your morning cereal or oatmeal. The bread on your sandwich. The corn chips for your snack, and the cookies for dessert. Not one would be possible with the humblest of ingredients: the seed.

17 Feb 2021

Study highlights barriers faced by cancer survivors in maintaining a healthy diet

The Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics focuses on the relationship between diet and cancer and the role nutrition may play in successful cancer outcomes.

4 Feb 2021

Study gives new clues to how muscle wasting occurs on a cellular level

Muscle wasting, or the loss of muscle tissue, is a common problem for people with cancer, but the precise mechanisms have long eluded doctors and scientists. Now, a new study led by Penn State researchers gives new clues to how muscle wasting happens on a cellular level.

3 Feb 2021

Study: Armed conflict affects health needs of at least 630 million women, children

Armed conflicts are becoming increasingly complex and protracted and a growing threat to humanitarian access and the delivery of essential health services, affecting at least 630 million women and children--over 8% of the world's population--in 2017.

24 Jan 2021

WHO sets nutrition criteria to increase the availability of healthy food

Public settings, such as schools, childcare centers, nursing homes, hospitals and correctional facilities and all other canteens of public institutions, can play a key role in ensuring people are provided with healthy food and helping prevent the 8 million annual deaths currently caused by unhealthy diets.

18 Jan 2021

WHO and partners urge countries to strengthen childcare

The early years in a child's life are critical in building a foundation for optimal development through a stable and nurturing environment.

18 Jan 2021

COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacts eating behaviors

Researchers in Germany and Belgium have conducted a survey demonstrating some of the adverse effects the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had on people’s eating habits.

14 Jan 2021

Higher temperatures and rainfall impact children's diet diversity

A first-of-its-kind, international study of 107,000 children finds that higher temperatures are an equal or even greater contributor to child malnutrition and low quality diets than the traditional culprits of poverty, inadequate sanitation, and poor education.

14 Jan 2021

Gut cells alert the body to danger during parasite invasion

To effectively combat an infection, the body first has to sense it's been invaded, then the affected tissue must send out signals to corral resources to fight the intruder.

28 Dec 2020

Study identifies the effects of malnutrition on patient survival after cardiac surgery

Nutrients are the structural components of food that the body needs to function properly. They are divided into macronutrients (proteins, fats, carbohydrates) and micronutrients (vitamins, provitamins, various minerals, and so on). Their shortage is called nutritional deficiency.

28 Dec 2020

Higher COVID-19 mortality among certain groups in Colombia linked to structural inequalities

Researchers at the Ministry of Health and Social Protection in Bogotá, Colombia, provided evidence of socioeconomic inequalities in COVID-19 deaths in terms of age, sex, ethnicity, type of health insurance regime, and socioeconomic status.

18 Dec 2020

Innovations to fix our food systems could have unintended consequences

Protein derived from organic waste to feed livestock could decrease demand for soybean meal. This could lead to less deforestation caused by soy farming.

11 Dec 2020

Toxin produced by E. coli bacteria also has nondiarrheal effects on the digestive tract

For people in wealthy countries, diarrhea is usually nothing more than an uncomfortable inconvenience for a few days. But for a poor child in a developing country, repeated bouts of diarrhea can lead to serious health consequences such as malnutrition, stunted growth and cognitive deficits.

9 Dec 2020

Global solidarity, resilient services to reduce TB deaths among people living with HIV

The theme of this year's World AIDS Day is "Global solidarity, resilient services". At the 2016 UN High-level Meeting on ending AIDS, member states committed to a 75% reduction of TB deaths among people living with HIV by 2020, compared with 2010.

2 Dec 2020

Overcoming pediatric drug-resistant TB crisis

World Children's Day marks the day, over three decades ago, on which world leaders adopted the historic Convention of the Rights of the Child, promising to every child to promote and protect their rights, including the right to life and the right to health.

30 Nov 2020