The malnutrition among children is one of the major reasons for stunted growth. However, according to the UCL study and research it was stated and confirmed that malnutrition among children and mothers are not just about quantity of food they eat, but food quality affects it as well.
The obesity and the malnutrition are acknowledged as problems. However, the through the study conducted they found out that almost 6.7 percent of mothers in Egypt were already obese, but they have stunted children. Because of this, they considered this as double burden type of malnutrition problem and their first reason why such thing happened is because of food scarcity.
Based on the "Maternal and Child Health Journal" children who were fed by foods like chocolate, sweets, and biscuits were considered as double burden household. But those children who were given fruits and vegetables were far belonged to the first group.
The obese people or mothers actually appear in countries with enough or many foods, and stunted children are in countries with food scarcity or those poor countries. But because of food availability in poor countries like Egypt it was made possible to have obese mothers. The only issue to the food available is its nutritional content which is very poor.
Is there a biological bond that if a mother is obese her baby will become obese also? According to Dr. Aitsi-Selmi, "Whether there is a biological link between obese mothers and their stunted children from birth is not known, and our study does not address this question." She further explained that the poor food quality is linked to both child stunting and maternal obesity because they might possibly have both common factor. "People should be encouraged to eat more healthily, and a reform of the subsidy system may be a good place to start," she added.
