Answer to Question #213529 in English for Busie Solane

Question

How does malnutrition affect intellectual development

Answer 1

Malnutrition causes damage to the central nervous system which is then reflected in intellectual impairment.  Both severe and moderate malnutrition has been associated with poor sensorimotor development, intellectual functioning, intersensory organization, visual discrimination ability, and language development. Very severe malnutrition occurring early in development appears to decrease brain weight, cell number as well as cell size and inhibit myelin form.