Nutrition refers to the intake of calories (or energy) and nutrients that the body needs to grow, develop, heal, and maintain a healthy weight. These nutrients are contained within the food and drinks that we consume.
Optimal nutrition occurs when our bodies have the calories and nutrients they need, in the right quantities, for growth, development, and health. An individual’s nutritional needs vary throughout life—from a child’s development in the womb through old age.
Malnutrition occurs when a person eats too much or too little for a sustained period of time, is unable to absorb or utilize the nutrients in food due to illness or other physical conditions, or does not have enough nutrients in their diet to meet their body’s needs. Malnutrition comes in various forms, including under nutrition, micro nutrient malnutrition, and overweight and obesity.
“Malnutrition, in all its forms, imposes unacceptably high costs—direct and indirect—on individuals, families and nations.
An estimated 1 out of every 3 people around the world has some form of malnutrition. Poor nutrition costs the global economy trillions of dollars a year in lost productivity and health care costs. Approximately 45% of all childhood deaths are a result of under nutrition.
Nutrition is an issue that affects health, cognitive development, economic growth, and basic human rights. Without dramatic and rapid improvements in nutrition, the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals is at risk.
The Burden of Malnutrition
Globally, the proportion of women and children with under nutrition is slowly decreasing. However, under nutrition remains a major public health problem in many countries.
In much of the world, rates of overweight and obesity are increasing. If current trends continue, half of all people on the planet will have some form of malnutrition (including obesity and overweight) by 2050.
Poor nutrition has consequences both for individuals and for society as a whole.
For individuals,
malnutrition:
- Increases the risk of mortality, illness, and poor birth outcomes
- Impedes physical and cognitive development
- Impairs fetal development in the womb
- Increases the risk of non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and cancer
At a societal level, malnutrition:
- Reduces human capital by negatively affecting children’s cognitive development, school
- performance, and health
- Reduces economic growth through direct losses in productivity and indirect losses from lower cognitive function and lower educational attainment
- Places stress on the health system and increases the costs of health care, especially for noncommunicable diseases.
Healthy Diets: An Important Component of Good Nutrition
Healthy diets are essential for good health, and they help protect against all forms of malnutrition, as well as non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes or high blood pressure.
There is more than one way to eat healthfully, and every person’s diet will be influenced by their age, level of physical activity, preferences, culture, food traditions, and income.
A healthy diet includes a variety of food and drinks from different types of food groups, such as grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables, and usually animal-source foods like fish or eggs. To maintain a healthy diet, most guidelines recommend eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and whole grains, while limiting saturated fats, sugars, salt, and highly processed food.
A healthy diet must also be safe—that is, clean, fresh, and free from contaminants, like mold. Sufficient food must also be available throughout the year.
Nutrition: A Multi-Sectoral Issue
Our nutrition is affected not only by the foods we eat, but also by our health, which determines how our bodies absorb and use nutrients. Going beyond good health and diet, adequate nutrition is influenced by a number of interacting factors. These factors include the cost of different foods, the types of food that can be grown or purchased locally, household feeding and eating practices, water supply and quality, and sanitation and hygiene—just to name a few.
To improve nutrition, diverse actions are needed across sectors. Nutrition actions are commonly integrated into programs within sectors addressing agriculture, public health, education, social protection, food security, water, and sanitation.
Nutrition actions also need to happen at different levels—for example, changes in household practices must be supported by local services, which are often run by district authorities. At the national level, stakeholders set the policies and provide the resources that make nutrition action possible.
