Hidden hunger refers to micronutrient deficiency caused by a diet that is filling but lacks essential vitamins and minerals. It is difficult to detect but negatively impacts health and development. Common deficiencies include vitamin A, iron, iodine, and zinc. These deficiencies especially impact women, children, and the elderly. Micronutrient deficiency undermines economic productivity and hinders progress on development goals related to poverty, health, and education. Addressing hidden hunger requires diversifying diets, fortifying foods, supplementing intake, and promoting behavior changes.
2. a more insidious type of
deficiency
caused by eating food that is cheap and filling
but deficient in essential vitamins and micronutrients.
The ‘hidden hunger’ due to micronutrient deficiency does not produce
hunger as w know it. It might not be felt in the belly,
but it strikes at the core of our health and vitality.
Causes of Hidden hunger
Continuous consumption of starchy food
Lack of balanced diet
Less diversity in food
Not fulfilling the increased micronutrient demand in certain period of life
,such as pregnancy, lactation etc.
Health disease such as infection.
3. Phenotypes of
hunger
Hunger: distress related to lack of food
Malnutrition: an abnormal physiological condition,
typically due to eating the wrong amount and/or kinds
of foods
Undernutrition: deficiencies in energy, protein,
and/or micronutrients
Micronutrient deficiency (also known as hidden
hunger):
a form of undernutrition that occurs when intake or
absorption of vitamins and minerals is too low to sustain
good health and development.
Undernourishment: chronic calorie deficiency,
with consumption of less than 1,800
kilocalories a day.
4. Micronutrient
deficiency
Micronutrient deficiency is the lack of
essential vitamin and mineral required in
small amount by the body for proper growth
and development.
Common macronutrient are vitamin A, B, C
and D, calcium, folate, iodine and iron.
5. Why micronutrient deficiency referred to as
Hidden hunger
While clinical signs of hidden hunger, such as night blindness due to
vitamin A deficiency and goiter from inadequate iodine intake,
become visible once deficiencies become severe, the health and
development of a much larger share of the population is affected by
less obvious “invisible” effects. That is why micronutrient
deficiencies are often referred to as hidden hunger.
8. Vitamin A Deficiency
• Affects 40-60%of children under five in developingcountries, compromisingtheir
immune systems, resulting in a millions deaths a year.
• Globally 5 million children under the age of five are affected with serious eye
disorder, Xerophthalmia as a result of vitamin A deficiency.
8
Iron Deficiency Anemia
Moderate and severe IDA adversely affects immunity, cognitive and motor
development, physical performance and reproductive health (premature birth, low
birth weight and perinatal mortality). It is estimated that anemia is the direct
cause of maternal deaths in 20% and contributory cause in another 20%.
9. Iodine Deficiency Disorder
9
• Goitre is the clinical manifestation of iodine deficiency disorder. The
functional consequences are:
• Permanent brain damage, (cretinism, - mental retardation, and deaf
mutism),
• Reproductive failure, and decreased child survival.
Zinc Deficiency
• Goitre is the clinical manifestation of iodine deficiency disorder.
The functional consequences are: retardation, and
deaf
• Permanent brain damage, (cretinism, -
mental mutism),
• Reproductive failure, and decreased child
survival.
10. Folat e
Deficiency
• Is responsible for 20,0000
severe birth defects every
year.
• Is associated with 1 in
every 10 deaths from
disease in adults.
10
11. 1. Especially vulnerable populations I:Women, Pregnant
women
2. Especially vulnerable populations II: Lactating women,
elderly person
3. Especially vulnerable populations III:children
14. Economic impact of
Hidden hunger
from
• Poor people are more likely than others to
suffer micronutrient malnutrition
• GDP loses about .9% due to iron deficiency
• The loss of economy due to anemia is around 5 billion US
dollar
• GDP loses about 3%-4% due to iodine deficiency
• Maternal death increase between 20%-22%due to
maternal anemia
15. The nutrition situation in the case of poverty is calculated by daily
intake of food measured by kilocalories (kcal). According to FAO the
average minimum
daily energy requirement is about 1,800 kilocalories (7,500 kJ) per
person.
There are two common approaches used to measure
poverty in terms of food intake.
1. Direct Calorie Intake (DCI)
2. Food Energy Intake (FEI)
Bangladesh has achieved the level of food energy intake by 2250 kcal,
16. Init iat ives t o remedy t he
micronut rient deficiencies
1. National Nutrition Services
(NNS)
2. Food Sovereignty on nutrition
3. Agro ecological Challenges
4. Community Food System
17. Concept ual Framework of Malnut rit ion:
Figure: UNICEF Conceptual Framework.
1. Immediate causes operating at the
individual level
2. Underlying cause influencing
households and communities
3. Basic cause around the structure and
18. The effect of hidden hunger in MDGs
• Goal 1: Eradicated extreme hunger
and poverty.
• Goal 4: Reduce child mortality.
• Goal 5: Improve maternal health.
20. Under-nutrition costs Bangladesh more than 7,000 Crore Taka (US$ 1 billion)in lost
productivity every year, and even more in health care costs.
Ensuring our investments in nutrition are effective now will lead to economic gains
through increased productivity exceeding 70,000 Crore Taka (US$ 10 billion) by
2021.
The under-nutrition situation remains serious: 41%, or approximately 7 million, of children
under five are stunted, 16% are wasted (low weight for height) and 36% are
underweight.
According to Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2011 data,
among women, 24% are underweight and 13% are of short stature, which increases
the likelihood that their children will be stunted.
A striking finding of the BDHS 2011 data and confirmed elsewhere, is that overall
indicators of economic growth and greater household wealth are not strongly related to
improved nutrition.
With one in four children (26%) under 5 years old stunted and 12% wasted even in the
highest household wealth quintile, clearly under-nutrition is not restricted to the poor.
21. Strategies for addressing
Micronut rient
malnutrition
1.Diversifying
diet
2.Fortifying commercial
food
3.Bio fortification
4.Supplementatio
n 5.Behavioral
