Aline Föcker

Hidden hunger is a real problem globally and especially in developing countries. More than two billion people worldwide suffer from hidden hunger. But also, the industrialized countries are having problems with chronic nutrition deficiency (which is a different description of hidden hunger). The Sustainable Development goals (SDG) two and three are about no hunger, good health, and well-being. To reach these two goals it is key to demolish hidden hunger.  Solutions to this widely spread and global problem are for example Diversifying Diets, Fortifying Commercial Foods, Biofortification, and Supplementation.

For being healthy it is important to have a balanced diet. Consisting of Beverages, Vegetables, Fruits, Grains, Potatoes & Pulses, Dairy Products, Meat, Fish, Eggs & Tofu, Oils, Fats & Nuts, and maybe Sweets, Salty Snacks & Alcohol. Some of the compounds our body needs are carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, trace elements, and vitamins.

Chronic hunger appears under long-term undernourishment. Less food than needed is consumed. This kind of hunger is the widest spread hunger in the world and mainly a problem of the poor. Those people mostly do not have enough money for healthy nutrition, clean water or health care.

Hidden hunger is a form of chronic hunger. Due to an unbalanced diet, the affected people have a lack of important vitamins, minerals, and trace elements. Two billion people worldwide suffer from this chronic nutrition deficiency, also known as hidden hunger. This is twice the number of people that suffer from acute hunger, also called macronutrient deficiency. The impacts of hidden hunger are only long-term and can be fatal. As a result, symptoms such as exhaustion, fatigue, loss of appetite occur. Those are unspecific Symptoms and many people do not recognize their deficiency. Other long -term impacts can be a weakened immune system, which can even lead to physical disabilities. Furthermore, limited mental development can be a consequence of hunger in the first years of living. However, hidden hunger does not only appear in development countries. It is also widely spread in industrialized.

Figure 1: The global hunger crisis (ifpri.org)

The graphic above shows that most people suffering from hidden hunger live in Africa and Asia. As mentioned above, this problem does not only appear in developing countries but also in industrialized countries. Additionally, the global level is high. A lack of iodine, iron, zinc and Vitamin A is the most commonly recognized micronutrition deficiencies across all ages. Notable is, that this graph has only listed children and women and does not include zinc. Pregnant women and children are in a greater need of micronutrition. Thus, if a pregnant woman has micronutrition deficiencies, long-term effects on the growth and development of the fetus can occur. It can be assumed that zinc has a similar curve than iron though. A child suffering from hidden hunger in its first 1000 days of life can be fatal. It can lead to slower growth and deficits in cognitive development. Furthermore, it can even be the reason for a relatively deep IQ. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of research and tests about this topic and therefore also a lot of insecurities are connected to it. The percentage of children suffer from Vitamin A deficiency is comparatively low in industrialized countries. Whereas this percentage is between 10 to 15 in industrialized countries, it is between 33 and 43 in developing ones. While Vitamin A deficiency is relatively high for children, it is only about 2 to 3% for pregnant women in industrialized countries. In contrast to this, in developing countries, the percentages of both age groups are much higher. In line with this are also the numbers of pregnant women. In industrialized countries, the percentage of pregnant women suffering from Vitamin A deficiency is only about 2 to 3%. When it comes to iron deficiency, women are just a bit more likely to suffer from that deficiency than children. The global percentage is within 16 to 18 for both groups. Interesting is, that Europe has the highest percentage of Iodine deficiency in its population, followed by Africa and Asia. Additionally, Oceania and America have a relatively low percentage there. So, the iodine deficiency seems like not certainly have to do something with poverty, just looking at iodine deficiency.

Reasons for Hidden hunger

According to ‘Welthungerhilfe’, the reasons why hunger in general and also hidden hunger especially exists, are the following ones: Wars and conflicts, Natural disasters, poverty, inequality, biased global trade, poor governance, waste of resources and climate change.

Wars and conflicts cause farmers to flee and leave almost all their possessions behind. And due to insecurities and limited trade, food becomes rare and expensive. Natural disasters such as droughts and floods lead to a hunger crisis, because of destroyed harvests. As a result, the population is forced to use up their seed supplies or slaughter cattle. Natural disasters can also have a long-term impact in the future or get worse every year because of climate change and waste of resources. Waste of resources means here that we need to carefully use our resources such as land and water since especially soil is a non-renewable resource.

Hunger is obviously also a consequence of poverty, as without money people cannot buy food. Hunger appears mainly in the countryside, where the families are poor. These people mainly produce their food themselves. Through for example climate change or poor governance the amount of land is sinking.

In developing countries, the government mostly does not meet the needs of the poor with their policies. Furthermore, corruption and land grabbing are big problems. Farmers and Indigenous groups are driven away from their land, since their rights are not protected at the moment. Also, day laborers without land are counted to the poor of the population.
In these areas, the infant and mother mortality is high and can be led by hidden hunger. Events such as natural disasters and climate change make these gaps or inequality even bigger and the hunger more drastic.

Another reason for poverty in developing countries are developed countries. The agreements between these countries are often unfair and include price advantages for enterprises.

Nonetheless, chronic nutrition deficiency is also a problem in the developed world. One reason for that is an increase in poverty and poor nutrition. The reasons can be similar to the ones above. Another problem is, that hunger in industrialized countries is often overlooked. In these countries, the poor often do not have acute hunger, compared to the starving people in developing countries, but hidden hunger occurs. Arousing for example by the fact that they do not have enough money for a balanced diet or spending their money on the false diet. An example of that is all the cheap fast-food chains which are rising in the USA and almost everywhere. Their food gives people a feeling of fullness, even though it is not a sustainable one.

On the other hand, there is a polarisation in dietary lifestyles. These modern lifestyles can also lead to a chronic nutrition deficiency. Being for example Vegan needs a good plan and knowledge behind how to take up the proteins, minerals and trace elements without meat, dairy or eggs. Going lightheaded into one of the nowadays popular diets can have serious consequences such as hidden hunger.

A really specific example regarding the graphic above is the iodic deficiency in Europe. The main reason is that the soils in Europe are comparingly low in ionic compounds. A solution to this problem for example in Switzerland is that normal salt has a ratio of iodine inside. With that, daily consumption is secured.

Possible solutions to hidden hunger

In order to find solutions, we need to separate two aspects: We can demolish hidden hunger by having less poverty. But on the other hand, people should also be educated on the topic of hidden hunger. As discussed in the beginning, hidden hunger or chronic nutrition deficiency is not easy to detect. The almost only way to find out for sure is through a blood test. Second, it is really effective to prevent hidden hunger speaking of reaching the Sustainable development goal two.

The cause of micronutrient deficiencies is multiple and interrelated. This means that there is no single solution to this problem. Nevertheless, Diversifying Diets, Fortifying Commercial Foods, Biofortification and Supplementation are possible solutions to hidden hunger.

When it comes to preventing hidden hunger, more diverse diets are one of the most effective ways. The effect comes without knowing what exactly one needs to eat because eating more divers means eating different sources of minerals, vitamins, and proteins. In the long-term, strategies such as home gardening, educating people on better infant and young child feeding practices, food preparation and storage methods to prevent nutrient loss are key to demolish hidden hunger.

Another method used is Commercial food fortification. This means that trace amounts of micronutrients are added to products. With this measure (maybe even from the state) a healthier population is aimed. This is also mentioned with the iodic deficiency problem in Europe. Furthermore, there are Supplementations. It is really popular to give Vitamin A supplementations to children to lower child mortality. Supplementations for other micronutrient deficiencies are less common in developing countries but really spread in industrialized ones. So, people are taking iron-folate, iron and zinc supplements. Furthermore, Biofortification is happening. It is a relatively new intervention which’s aim is to increase the micronutrient content in food crops. This involves breeding food crops and using conventional or transgenic methods.

References:

https://www.welthungerhilfe.org/hunger/

https://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/ghi/2014/feature_1818.html

https://www.nutri-facts.org/content/dam/nutrifacts/media/media-books/RTGN_chapter_03.pdf