ABSTRACT
Undernourishment is used to represent a shortage in total energy intake that makes it impossible for an individual to maintain normal activity without a loss in weight. Malnutrition refers to the symptoms developing from a lack of one or more basic nutrients. Marasmus and kwashiorkor are the names given to the most severe clinical varieties of protein/calorie malnutrition. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, about 20 to 30 percent of those living in Africa, the Near East, and the Far East are in some sense suffering from inadequate nutrition. Many documented cases have shown an association between malnutrition in preschool children and low levels of mental performance. The nutritional requirements against which the average food supplies are compared have undergone extensive modification. In selecting countries and in collecting data for statistical analyses, 1970 was used as the point of reference. Nonetheless, some distributional conclusions can be drawn from the aggregated and averaged data.
