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And? All that shows is that they ate less and were shorter as a result. Is that the conclusion?

• Jtsummers 11y ago
  Malnutrition is not the same as eating less. A healthy diet includes a variety of proteins, sugars, vitamins, minerals and other things. The North Korean diet has, for several generations now, been lacking in essential nutrients. The consequence is that their population has been shrinking (malnutrition during growing years means you don't grow). You can over consume food and still be malnourished. See a friend of mine in college that subsisted off a diet largely consisting of pastas and cheese, sometimes fruit. He was incredibly unhealthy, though he obtained more than enough calories to maintain his weight (he was somewhat overweight at the time, but not extremely so). Once he improved his diet he had enough energy to actually start exercising again and resolved several ongoing medical issues he had at the time due to missing key nutrients in his diet.
  • bottled_poe 11y ago
    I understand the malnutrition crisis in North Korea. Of course that situation is appalling. I'm just saying that malnutrition and height are not polar opposites on some spectrum of good health.
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