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Children have proportionally much higher nutritional needs for growth and are extremely sensitive to deficiencies in protein, vitamins, and minerals.
Adults can survive longer on incomplete diets, especially if they already have fat reserves.
In scarcity situations, it’s often easier to find high-calorie but nutrient-poor foods (white flour, sugar, oil) than protein-rich or micronutrient-dense foods.
A mother may therefore eat enough calories to maintain or even gain fat mass, while still being deficient in essential nutrients.
A child, however, needs complete proteins and micronutrients to grow; without them, they can become skeletal and wasted even if total calorie intake is low but not zero.
An adult’s body can adapt to intermittent fasting by lowering metabolism, mobilizing fat stores, and maintaining a certain weight.
Children don’t have this buffer: their bodies burn energy for growth and brain development, so weight loss is rapid and dangerous.
Frequent infections (diarrhea, respiratory illnesses) accelerate child malnutrition. A sick child absorbs nutrients poorly, which worsens weight loss — a vicious cycle less severe in adults.
