Defining malnutrition in India: how much is too little, how much is too much?

摘要

In spite of significant economic growth during the last few decades, India is still suffering from a huge load of malnutrition. Undernutrition in India is amongst one of the highest in the world. India also has a double burden of undernutrition and overnutrition. The cut-off points of measures to define nutritional status and body composition are based on researches mostly on people of non-Indian ancestry. These seem to be inappropriate considering the inherent difference in body composition from the Westerners and also the great Indian population diversity.