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[email protected] Advisory Board Barbara Buchner, Claude Fischler, Mario Monti, John Reilly Gabriele Riccardi, Camillo Ricordi, Umberto Veronesi In collaboration with Professor Claudio Maffeis ¬ University of Verona Professor Aviva Must ¬ Tufts University, Boston, USA The European House-Ambrosetti The Italian Committee for UNICEF has helped in the drafting of this publication Publishing and editorial coordination Codice Edizioni Art direction and layout adfarmandchicas Obesity and malnutrition: the paradox of food for our children (November 2011) Images National Geographic Image Collection Corbis Images Cover image: Corbis ear Reader, After analyzing the relationship between diet, lifestyle and health, with insights Dconcerning the world of children, we have found ourselves facing a paradox of global dimensions. There are 155 million overweight or obese school-age children in the world, i.e., one in ten; and there are 148 million underweight children under 5 years of age, equal to 25% of the undernourished world population. Despite the interventions made so far, these two extreme situations continue to co-exist and do not show any significant signs of reversal. For these reasons, we felt the obligation and the urgency to focus on this paradox, which everybody seems to ignore. We asked ourselves some questions: if the adoption of healthy lifestyles and a healthy diet have a positive effect on health, how can these instructions be made actionable and practi- cal? Are we aware that such plans should have a medium-long time horizon and involve a plurality of actors? As for malnutrition, what must be done to promote genuine autonomy of the countries involved? What are the measures and checks to be activated to encourage such an approach? These are just some of the questions which we have tried to answer in order to address the current situation urgently and decisively.