BURDEN OF MALNUTRITION IN ASIA: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

Malnutrition is universal and has various forms. Excess and deficit, generally, are the two directions of malnutrition. Nutritional deficiency in early life increases susceptibility to infection and illness and can cause reduced adult physical stature, and impaired cognitive abilities which affect their learning abilities. As a result, they are less prepared when they enter the job market and tend to earn lower wages than those without childhood stunting. The current analysis was inspired by the publication of several studies on burden of the malnutrition. Several research on the burden and problems due to malnutrition prompted the current study. A Pubmed, EMBASE, and Web of Science online database search was conducted, and relevant studies were included with language restrictions to English. Following that, databases were accessed in order to conduct a more in-depth search of the literature utilising key terms and Boolean operators to create articles pertinent to the issue. These papers were screened using inclusion/exclusion criteria to reduce the number of articles to a manageable eight. These eight publications were examined, and the findings revealed that burden of malnutrition in the Asia-Pacific region is alarmingly high and is tilted toward obesity. The significant coexisting of both undernutrition and overweight/obesity suggests that future interventions/policy targeting to maintain a healthy population weight should not just focus on prevention and treatment toward one direction. The available national data showed that the prevalence of overweight/obesity has been increasing in Asian countries, whereas the prevalence of undernutrition has been declining. National economic development, changes in the food supply, urbanization, and lack of adequate physical activity are positively associated with increasing overweight/obesity