Energy balance
Underweight remains a more prevalent issue than obesity globally for children and adolescents, with the highest burden concentrated in South Asia and parts of Africa.
Do not assume that obesity is the only or main nutrition problem for children. In many parts of the world, underweight is far more common. Nutrition programs must be tailored to address both undernutrition and overnutrition, especially in South Asia and Africa.
Despite this rise, more children and adolescents are moderately or severely underweight than obese, with the burden of underweight increasingly concentrated in south Asia and central, east and west Africa.
Why this rating
Large pooled analysis with global coverage.
Source
Worldwide trends in body-mass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement studies in 128·9 million children, adolescents, and adults
Leandra Abarca-Gómez et al. · The Lancet · 2017
DOI 10.1016/s0140-6736(17)32129-3
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- Global age-standardised mean BMI in children and adolescents increased significantly from 1975 to 2016, with obesity prevalence rising from 0.7% to 5.6% in girls and 0.9% to 7.8% in boys, while underweight prevalence decreased.Strong
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