Hunger and Malnutrition

Hunger is the want or scarcity of food in a country.

The related technical term is malnutrition.

Malnutrition is a general term that indicates a lack of some or all nutritional elements necessary for human health.

There are two basic types of malnutrition. The first and most important is protein-energy malnutrition - the lack of enough protein (from meat and other sources) and food that provides energy (measured in calories) which all of the basic food groups provide. This is the type of malnutrition that is referred to when world hunger is discussed. The second type of malnutrition, also very important, is micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) deficiency. This is not the type of malnutrition that is referred to when world hunger is discussed, though it is certainly very important.

Recently there has also been a move to include obesity as a third form of malnutrition. Considering obesity as malnutrition expands the previous usual meaning of the term which referred to poor nutrition due to lack of food inputs. It is poor nutrition, but it is not typically due to a lack of calories, but rather too many (although poor food choices, often due to poverty, are part of the problem).

Undernourishment is the condition of receiving less than 90 percent of the minimum dietary intake over a long-term time period; suffers lack energy for an active, productive life and are more susceptible to infectious diseases.

Source