The Current Status and Influencing Factors of Malnutrition in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

By looking at the present situation of malnutrition among children and adolescents around the world and in China, the paper analyzed the principal elements that led to adolescent malnutrition and existing research had shown that diseases brought about by malnutrition like stunted growth and obesity were common among adolescents all over the world and among them, "hidden hunger" deserved special attention because it was present in various physical issues resulting from malnutrition and the elements affecting malnutrition mainly covered five areas: eating habits, living style, physical well - being, social surroundings, and mental state and the study would explain these five aspects and suggest efficient ways to intervene in adolescent malnutrition at the family, school, and social levels according to these elements and the findings showed that the malnutrition issue among children and adolescents in China had complicated features such as the coexistence of nutritional shortages and overweight/obesity as well as widespread lack of trace elements and the chief influencing elements included diet structure, living pattern, physical health condition, social environment, and mental health which also differed among different age groups and interacted with one another and based on this knowledge, interventions should be coordinated at multiple levels including family, school, society, and the public health system to deal with malnutrition issues in diverse situations.