Question

Children who are underweight suffer from Protein and Energy Deficiencies or PEM. What makes the effects of PEM worse on these children?

Answer 1

It can inhibit growth, obviously. Children are still developing from conception up until about late teens, and continue to grow until about age 21-24. However, the most important developmental periods are when they are children. Women begin to grow, develop breasts, hips, and a period. Men, on the other hand, grow in height, much more than women, in general, develop more muscle due to increase levels of testosterone etc.,

If their body does not have sufficient energy to promote these metabolic functions in our bodies, they may be unable to go through puberty. Proteins are key in our bodies because they are what perform most of these biological processes in humans.