UNICEF’s new report warns that junk food and weak regulation are driving a hidden epidemic that could cost trillions and derail decades of progress in child health
UNICEF’s new global report, “Feeding Profit: How Food Environments Are Failing Children”, makes clear that the old definition of malnutrition no longer holds. For decades, it meant hunger — children visibly stunted and underfed. Today, more children are carrying more weight than too little.
In children under five, one in 20 (5%) are already overweight. Among older children, the shift is even more dramatic. In 2022, nearly 20% of those aged 5-19 were overweight, while just 10% were underweight.
