The Transition From Undernutrition to Overnutrition Under Adverse Environments and Poverty: The Risk for Chronic Diseases
Paola Caroline Lacerda Leocádio, Synara Cavalcante Lopes, Ronaldo Pereira Dias, Jacqueline I. Alvarez‐Leite, Richard L. Guerrant, João O. Malva, Reinaldo B. Oriá
Abstract
Nutritional transition is an important public health issue in developing countries, where switch \nfrom undernutrition to overnutrition/obesity is rapidly occurring, often within two or three \ngenerations. Such transition is related to changes in lifestyle, with people having more access \nto western high-caloric diets. In developing countries, settings of poverty, poor sanitation and \nhygiene are still common, where children are exposed to numerous enteric pathogens, pollutants, \nand other biohazards. Populations living under such adverse environments and facing the \nnutritional transition may have increased risks for chronic illnesses in later life, including diabetes, \ncardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases. This opinion paper summarizes novel findings and \nrecent literature addressing the nutrition transition under adverse environments, including the \ngut microbiota-brain axis dysfunction and their lasting effects with deleterious consequences for \nlater development.