This piece originally appeared on Agri-Pulse. 

Editor's note: Agri-Pulse and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs are teaming up to host a monthly column to explore how the U.S. agriculture and food sector can maintain its competitive edge and advance food security in an increasingly integrated and dynamic world.

By Shawn Baker, Director, Nutrition Team, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

While malnutrition is a distant memory for most Americans, it was not all that long ago that the population of the United States was plagued by diseases and disabilities caused by poor nutrition. A congressional investigation after World War II found that as many as 40 percent of draftees were rejected because of nutrition-related causes - and was one of the first studies to make the link between childhood malnutrition and physical deficiencies. As Roger Thurow notes in his new book, The First 1,000 Days, the results spurred President Harry S. Truman to action, proclaiming that, “No nation is any healthier than its children.”

Globally, malnutrition is still afflicting millions of families and communities. It is an underlying cause of nearly half of child deaths worldwide - meaning millions of children who are killed by preventable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria would have survived if they had not been malnourished. Of the children who do survive, 160 million face stunted growth due to malnutrition, which can impair neurological development and prevent them from reaching their full physical, intellectual and economic potential over the course of their lives. Beyond the irreversible damage malnutrition does to individuals, its impact on a country's economy can be similarly devastating-estimates suggest that in low- and middle-income countries, the effects of malnutrition can decrease economic growth by between 2 and 11 percent.

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