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.

Children of women with HG more likely to suffer from anxiety, bipolar disorder

An extreme form of pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting known as hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) takes a heavy toll on thousands of women each year and can lead to hospitalization and pregnancy termination. But new research suggests pregnant women are not the only victims.

24 Aug 2011

PerOral Endoscopic Myotomy holds promise for patients with esophageal achalasia

Jorge Sobenes is a husband and father who loves to cook for his family. In a nine month period however, he went from enjoying his favorite foods to not being able to eat or drink due to a tightening in his throat and difficulty swallowing. He lost 40 pounds and was desperate for answers. Sobenes was diagnosed with achalasia, a condition where the esophagus is unable to move food into the stomach, and was told he would need surgery. Historically, the procedure requires several incisions in the abdomen in order to access the blocked esophageal pathway.

24 Aug 2011

UNICEF warns Horn of Africa 'crisis will get worse'; China contributes $16M in aid funds to WFP

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake told reporters on Friday that "more than 300,000 children in the Horn of Africa are severely malnourished 'and in imminent risk of dying' because of drought and famine," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

23 Aug 2011

Violence and displacement in Yemen exacerbate child malnutrition

UNICEF has warned that "continuing fighting in various parts of Yemen, which has recently displaced thousands of people especially in Abyan Governorate and the Arhab District of Sana'a, could compromise the nutritional status of those affected … potentially increaseing morbidity and mortality rates, especially among children under five," IRIN reports.

20 Aug 2011

White House holds call to discuss famine in the Horn of Africa

A post in the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog highlights a White House call "with faith-based organizations Wednesday afternoon to discuss efforts in the Horn of Africa to combat the extensive famine brought on by a severe drought in the region, the worst seen in decades."

20 Aug 2011

WFP investigating fraud allegations in Somalia; U.N., Oxfam call for increased assistance

The World Food Programme (WFP) does not plan "to reduce aid to Somalia following allegations that international food shipments there are being diverted," the Associated Press reports.

17 Aug 2011

WHO launches online nutrition information system

The WHO "has launched a web-based information system it hopes will help prevent millions of people from suffering various forms of malnutrition, ranging from undernutrition to obesity, every year," IRIN reports.

11 Aug 2011

Fertile Guatemala faces starvation as subsistence crops fail

Despite its status as "the world's fifth largest exporter of sugar, coffee and bananas," Guatemala "has the highest rate of child malnutrition in Latin America," with "half of all children under five" reportedly malnourished, Agence France-Presse reports.

11 Aug 2011

Members of U.S. delegation to Horn of Africa discuss response efforts

The August 8 visit of a U.S. delegation to the drought-stricken Horn of Africa "was important in terms of shedding light on the important efforts that are under way and the importance of continued support from the international community," Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Eric Schwartz said on Tuesday during a briefing on the trip, IIP Digital reports.

11 Aug 2011

Food fortification aims to improve nutrition in Egypt

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation features a video from the Living Proof Project highlighting a Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) program in Egypt that is "reducing malnutrition through food fortification strategies aimed at improving the health and nutrition of populations at risk."

10 Aug 2011

Nepal looks to improved cooking stoves to improve health, environment

Inter Press Service examines how Nepal is combating the poor health effects of open-fire cooking stoves by replacing them with improved cooking stoves.

10 Aug 2011

Positive data from Lexicon LX1032 Phase 2 study on carcinoid syndrome

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering breakthrough treatments for human disease, announced positive, top-line proof-of-concept data from its recently completed Phase 2 study in carcinoid syndrome with LX1032, telotristat etiprate. Carcinoid syndrome is a chronic condition caused by neuroendocrine tumors that usually originate from the gastrointestinal tract.

9 Aug 2011

Seattle Times examines Gates Foundation's efforts to enhance vitamins in crops for Africans

The Seattle Times on Sunday examined efforts by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation "to boost the levels of vitamins and minerals in crops many Africans rely on for the bulk of their diets."

9 Aug 2011

Obama administration issues new guidance on aid to drought-stricken Somalia

The Obama administration on Tuesday issued new guidance stating "the U.S. would not prosecute relief agencies for delivering aid to parts of Somalia controlled by the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab, despite concerns that unrestricted aid in the failed state would be diverted to the wrong hands," Inter Press Service reports.

4 Aug 2011

'Political resolve' needed to end world hunger

"[A]s the worst drought in 60 years again devastates the Horn of Africa, throwing as many as 12 million into desperate hunger … there are hopeful signs that today's drought need not result in the tens of thousands of deaths that we saw in earlier decades," World Food Programme Executive Director Josette Sheeran writes in the Reuters blog "The Great Debate."

4 Aug 2011

U.N. issues appeal for air cargo space, warns about rising child mortality among Somalis in Kenya

UNICEF on Tuesday "appealed to the air transport sector to provide free and discounted cargo space to bring emergency food supplies into the region," the U.N. News Centre reports.

4 Aug 2011

New approach reduces cyanogen, enhances nutritional value in root crop

Researchers working at The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center have made an another advancement in their efforts to improve the root crop cassava which is a major source of calories to 700 million people worldwide, primarily living in the developing world.

3 Aug 2011

Famine will spread in Somalia unless 'massive' response mounted, U.N. says

The drought and hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa is getting worse, and unless there is "a massive increase in the response, the famine will spread to five or six more regions" in Somalia, Valerie Amos, the U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told reporters on Monday, Reuters reports.

3 Aug 2011

ADA releases new position paper, 'Nutrition Intervention in the Treatment of Eating Disorders'

As one of the most complicated sets of illnesses to treat, eating disorders have mental health, as well as medical and nutritional, aspects. While treatment by a multidisciplinary health-care team is considered the best practice, there is considerable debate over how to most effectively treat eating disorders and who should be on a treatment team.

2 Aug 2011

Disparities persist despite insurance

A pair of studies highlights how health disparities continue to take shape and unravels some of the factors that are involved in differences in health outcomes.

1 Aug 2011