Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in a person's intake of energy and/or nutrients. Child malnutrition, in all its forms, includes undernutrition, which includes wasting (low weight-for-height), stunting (low height-for-age) and underweight (low weight-for-age), micronutrient-related malnutrition (a lack of important vitamins and minerals) or micronutrient excess, overweight, obesity, and resulting diet-related non-communicable diseases. Malnutrition is one of the most important factors for improper physical and mental development of children. One in every five children in the developing world is malnourished, and poor nutrition is associated with half of all child deaths worldwide. The problem of low or excessive body weight concerns countries with different levels of socio-economic development. This is a medical, social, and economic issue. Every country in the world is affected by one or more forms of malnutrition. Combating malnutrition in all its forms is one of the greatest global health challenges. Infants, children and adolescents are at particular risk of malnutrition. In children, malnutrition has particularly significant health consequences during both early development and adulthood. Malnutrition endangers children's survival, health, growth and development, slows national progress towards the developmental goals and thus diminishes the strength and capacity of nation. Malnutrition in terms of undernutrition is substantially higher in rural than in urban areas and children from indigenous populations often have the poorest nutritional status. The developmental, economic, social, and medical impacts of the global burden of malnutrition are serious and lasting for all involved including individuals and their families, communities and countries. Poor nutrition during the early years of life can also have severe consequences for subsequent skeletal and immunological development. Studies have demonstrated that undernutrition is not caused by food insecurity alone. Other factors range from the length of the breastfeeding period and the availability of milk oligosaccharides, pathogen exposure, and enteric dysfunction marked by villus atrophy and loss of gut barrier function. Differences in the succession of microbial establishment and maturity might contribute to family discordances in nutritional status. Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century. The problem is global and is steadily affecting many low- and middle-income countries, particularly in urban settings. Its prevalence has increased at an alarming rate. Globally, in 2016, the number of overweight children under the age of five is estimated to be over 41 million. Almost half of all overweight children under 5 lived in Asia. Overweight and obesity have been linked to adverse psychological and physical outcomes during childhood and continuing into adolescence and adulthood. The association between overweight and obesity with psychosocial problems (anxiety, depression and negative self-image), health problems (diabetes and cardiovascular events) and impaired social, educational and economic productivity has been well documented. Moreover, the negative impact of being underweight, overweight, or obese on the health and development of children and adolescents can also extend into adulthood, increasing the risk of chronic non-communicable diseases and disability. Overweight and obesity, as well as their related diseases, are largely preventable. Therefore prevention of childhood obesity is a high priority. The mechanism of development of obesity is not fully understood and it is believed to be a disorder with multiple causes. Environmental factors, lifestyle preferences, and cultural environment play pivotal roles in the rising prevalence of obesity worldwide. In general, overweight and obesity are assumed to be the result of an increase in caloric and fat intake. On the other hand, there are supporting evidence that excessive sugar intake by soft drink, increased portion size, and steady decline in physical activity have been playing major roles in the rising rates of obesity all around the world. Nutritional assessmentis the interpretation of anthropometric, biochemical, clinical and dietary data to determine whether a person or groups of people are well nourished or malnourished (over-nourished or under-nourished). Research can be aimed at identifying the various social, cultural, political, and economic factors of nutrition in order to fully understand the underlying causes of malnutrition. The social determinants of malnutrition can be explored through both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Furthermore, exploring the issues of food security, dietary diversity, and infant-feeding practices can provide a comprehensive understanding of a population's nutritional status.

Obesity is a major risk for both cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, and evidence suggests that the situation is likely to get worse in both developed and developing countries. It is considered to be a predisposing factor for several chronic diseases which include CVD, ischemic stroke, hypertension, T2DM, vascular dysfunction, and proinflammatory and prothrombotic state. This is where Syndrome X intersects with obesity and plays the role of a common denominator for CVD and T2DM. Persons with Syndrome X are more susceptible to CVD & T2DM.It is particularly relevant to recognize that variation in disease susceptibility among individuals in the population at large is a consequence of the intersection of the distribution of genotypes with the distribution of past environmental exposures and future environmental trajectories. For instance, many individuals who have a genotype that is found in those with disease will remain healthy because of the compensatory effects of a different environmental history on the same initial conditions. Similarly, individuals who do not have a high risk genotype may develop a disease of an adverse environmental history. That is, interaction between a particular genotype and particular environmental exposures.In the thrifty genotype hypothesis as proposed by Neel (1962), entire populations have an increased predisposition to T2DM due to genetic selection. They are better adapted to different nutritional circumstances than those they experience today. In the thrifty phenotype hypothesis (also known as Barkers Hypothesis), maladaptive responses occur as a result of environmentally induced alteration of physiology in the early life of the individual. Both hypotheses offer explanations of why the frequency of diabetes and obesity may differ in different populations and why predisposition to diabetes is common, albeit by very different mechanisms. A third hypothesis called the common soil hypothesis as mentioned by Lebovitz (2006) that diabetes and CVD might share an underlying cause(s) is also described. Insulin resistance is central both to the progression from normal glucose tolerance to T2DM and to a constellation of CVD risk factors known as Syndrome X or Metabolic Syndrome. Then there is the epigenome that directly impacts gene expression and can be modified by both genetic and environmental factors. It is the potentially heritable changes in gene expression that does not involve changes to the underlying DNA sequences a change in phenotype without a change in genotype. The epigenoytpe is dynamic and varies over time and tissues as a result of environmental exposure, aging, and diseases and other factors.The present book is an assembly of the vast knowledge that has been generated over the last decade worldwide in the field of obesity and metabolic syndrome related disorders, and an attempt to translate research findings into a clinically useful tool for better diagnosis, intervention, and prevention of this global public health burden. We hope this book will not only expand the practice in the coming years, but that it will create new avenues for future research as well.

This book outlays the possible influence of some important aspects of human migration and social mobility on the biological characters of human populations, including their health and well-being. It contains ten contributions from different researchers working in this area of research. The first chapter, written by Budnik and Henneberg, demonstrates the effect of social class and mobility on morphological characters of body size like height and body mass index (BMI) in a historical population of Poland. In Chapter Two, Chakraborty et al. shows that the migration of disadvantaged people to an adverse environment in an early period of growth and development may increase health risk in adulthood compared to those after completion of major physical growth period, or even compared to those who are born into that adverse environment. Chapter Three (by J. R. Ghosh) reveals the influence of educational and occupational positions on clinical hypertension among adult males from the eastern part of India. In the fourth chapter of this volume, S. Ghosh et al. attempts to find out the relationship between the socio-economic status of family and growth on height and weight demographics in school children aged 5-12 from Kolkata, India. Godina et al. in Chapter Five delineates the differences in various anthropometrical measurements in children and adolescents aged 7 to 17 years across different types of schools, representing different social strata in Moscow. Chapter Six by Kaczmarek discusses the implications of rural to urban migration and its impact on womens health status in Poland. The next chapter by Krzyzanowska and C G Nicholas Mascie-Taylor discusses the impact of regional migration and social mobility on variation in adult height, weight and Body Mass Index, which is evidenced from a British cohort study. In Chapter Eight, Gomula and Koziel highlight from a study in Poland the effect of social mobility of fathers on maturity, measured by the age at menarche in their daughters. In the next chapter, Missoni and arac review dietary and lifestyle characteristics in the Eastern Adriatic Islands of Croatia in the backdrop of recent economic transition, urbanisation and migration. The tenth chapter contributed by Singh and Kirchengast compares demographic health related characteristics and reproductive behaviours between Punjabi women residing in Punjab and in Vienna, Austria. This book will be useful for researchers dealing with biological implications of human mobility. It may be of particular interest to human biologists, biological anthropologists, epidemiologists, demographers, economists and other researchers dealing with biological implications of human mobility.

Obesity is now considered a global epidemic. Central obesity is the state of excess adiposity in the abdominal region. It is associated with increased, cardiovascular or cancer mortality. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has recommended the assessment of central obesity mandatory for diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. Hitherto, there is a huge gap in our understanding of the role of central obesity as a health risk across different populations around the world. There also exist a vast population variation in the relationship between generalized obesity as measured by body mass index and /or percent body fat and the central adiposity measures. For instance, Asian-Indians have a typical phenotype of higher body fat at lower BMI levels compared to their European counterparts. Development and use of region specific standards of measurement of central obesity is in need until a universal agreement is achieved. With this background, the present volume has been organized with some very informative articles from highly reputed scholars, researching on obesity in general and on central obesity, in particular. We have here articles based on empirical data as well some review articles critically examining some theoretical, epidemiological and clinical aspects pertaining to the theme of this volume. Through the 14 chapters of this volume, we have attempted to cover diverse aspects concerning the paradigm of central or abdominal adiposity / obesity within a broader framework of obesity.

Human malnutrition is a serious health problem worldwide. Traditionally, malnutrition is referred to as under-nutrition. However, during the last three decades, the problems of overweight and obesity have reached alarming proportions necessitating the coinage of the term "globesity" which refers to global obesity. Thus, malnutrition manifests itself as a dual burden: under-nutrition and over-nutrition. Both these burdens have serious implications regarding morbidity and mortality. In this book, there are 15 chapters which discuss these dual burdens. These chapters address diverse aspects of human nutrition including birth weight, under-nutrition, overweight and obesity, nutrition interventions, micronutrients and other co-variates of malnutrition. Confounding factors of malnutrition are also highlighted.