Join us July 25–28 in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. for the annual flagship meeting of the American Society for Nutrition. With a complimentary press pass, qualifying journalists can be among the first to hear the newest research findings and connect with leaders in nutrition science, practice and policy.

New evidence from a longitudinal birth cohort in Vellore, India, strengthens the global picture that children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are increasingly facing a “double burden of malnutrition”—the coexistence of undernutrition alongside rising overweight and obesity within the same communities. The study, led by researchers at ARUMDA (TIFR Hyderabad) and Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, followed 251 children from birth to nine years in a low-income urban community, with 205 children (82%) successfully tracked through repeated height and weight measurements. Globally, UNICEF and WHO have flagged the double burden as a defining challenge of the 2020s, especially in rapidly urbanizing LMICs where early-life undernutrition intersects with later exposure to energy-dense diets, processed foods, and reduced physical activity. The Vellore cohort mirrors these patterns. Most children had normal body mass index (BMI) in early childhood, but divergence emerged by mid-childhood. At age seven, 26.3% were thin and 5.2% overweight or obese. By age nine, thinness remained high at 21.6%, while overweight and obesity rose sharply to 14.6%—nearly tripling in just two years. This trajectory parallels findings from birth cohorts from multiple populations, where children who experienced early growth faltering later show accelerated weight gain and rising obesity risk as urban environments change. The Vellore data also highlight intergenerational pathways recognized globally: low maternal BMI and low birth weight were linked to persistent thinness, while normal birth weight was associated with higher obesity risk by age nine, suggesting a shift from undernutrition to overnutrition within a single decade. For policymakers and program designers, these findings align with global calls to extend nutrition and growth monitoring beyond the first 1,000 days. The authors argue that integrated interventions—spanning maternal nutrition, early childhood care, and school-age food and physical activity environments—are essential to address this dual burden and reduce the future global burden of diabetes, heart disease, and other metabolic disorders.

An over-reliance on Body Mass Index (BMI) to measure recovery from eating disorders has sparked calls for better assessment methods.