Research
Energy balance
Underweight prevalence has decreased globally but remains a significant public health problem in specific regions, particularly South Asia and parts of Africa.
In many parts of the world, being underweight is still a major health risk, particularly in South Asia and Africa. Public health efforts need to address both ends of the BMI spectrum, not just obesity.
StrongQualifiesVERY_HIGH confidence
Underweight remains prevalent in the world’s poorest regions, especially in south Asia.
Why this rating
Large pooled analysis.
Source
Trends in adult body-mass index in 200 countries from 1975 to 2014: a pooled analysis of 1698 population-based measurement studies with 19·2 million participants
Mariachiara Di Cesare et al. · The Lancet · 2016
DOI 10.1016/s0140-6736(16)30054-x
cohort · n=19200000Cited 5,255×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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