Short answers, pulled from the story.
The World Health Organization and The Lancet Commission identify the double burden of malnutrition as a condition where overweight and obesity coexist alongside stunted growth and wasting within the same communities. This expanded definition includes all forms of undernutrition and overnutrition rather than referring only to nutrient deficiency.
In 2021, 148.1 million children were stunted while 45 million were wasted worldwide. Another 37 million children were classified as overweight or obese that same year. UNICEF reported that 45% of deaths in children were linked directly to undernutrition.
Kwashiorkor is primarily caused by inadequate protein intake and presents with edema, wasting, liver enlargement, depigmentation of skin and hair, and characteristic swelling of the belly. Marasmus results from a sustained diet deficient in both protein and energy and features severe wasting with little or no edema and minimal subcutaneous fat.
High food prices prevent low-income households from getting nutritious food because they inhibit the purchase of items like milk, meat, poultry, and fruits. Commodity speculators increased the cost of food during the 2007, 2008 food price crisis when trillions of dollars moved to invest in food and primary commodities after the real-estate bubble collapsed.
Global warming threatens food security as almost all malnourished people live in the tropics where temperature increases make extreme weather conditions occur more frequently. Droughts have major impacts on agricultural production and hence nutrition, such as the 1998, 2001 Central Asian drought that killed about 80 percent of livestock in Iran.