What Are Hunger and Malnutrition?
Everyone feels hungry at times. Hunger is the body’s signal that it needs food. Once we’ve eaten enough food to satisfy our bodies’ needs, hunger goes away until our stomachs are empty again. Malnutrition is not the same thing as hunger, although they often go together. People who are malnourished lack the nutrients needed for proper health and development. Someone can be malnourished for a long or short period of time, and the condition may be mild or severe. People who are malnourished are more likely to get sick and, in severe cases, may even die. Unfortunately, there are millions of people in the world who don’t get enough to eat most of the time and are at risk for malnutrition. Chronic hunger and malnutrition can cause significant health problems. People who go hungry all the time are likely to be underweight, weighing significantly less than an average person of their size. Their growth may also be stunted, making them much shorter than average. (Of course, people can also be un
