Key documents: Food security and nutrition FAO paper for World Food Summit Factfile on hunger Photofile - focus on nutrition		People at grave risk from hunger People suffering from undernourishment do not get enough basic caloric energy from their diets to lead a normal life. The term malnutrion applies to an even larger portion of humanity: both those who simply have too little food to eat, and others whose diets may lack certain essential nutrients, most of which, are needed only in very small quantities. While hunger and micronutrient deficiencies cut short or blight the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the developing countries, a "diet of excess" can also contribute to disease and death. Too little food creates a condition known as protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), which is most common among young children and pregnant women in the developing world. PEM is usually caused by diets that are deficient in energy and may also lack protein. The effects of dietary deficiencies are worsened by infections that raise nutrient requirements while reducing the body's ability to digest food. PEM is the prime cause of low birth weight and poor growth among children in the developing world. Shortages of essential vitamins and minerals can also stunt mental and physical development and contribute to serious health problems through life. Those groups most at risk to hunger are: The rural poor, including smallholders, landless labourers, pastoral nomads and fisherpeople, often suffer from hunger, malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. Inefficient production and lack of access to credit, seeds, fertilizers, extension services and marketing channels limit their food production. In poor farming communities, hunger is common just before the harvest when food stores have been used up and new crops have yet to be gathered. The urban poor generally have a lower energy requirement because of the nature of the work they perform. Because food is generally available starvation is less likely, but inadequate incomes lead to malnutrition which, combined with overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions, make the urban poor vulnerable to infections. Children of poor families may live in unsanitary conditions and be forced to work long hours at menial jobs. When they suffer from infections, marginal undernourishment can turn into acute malnutrition. The elderly suffer when the extended family system breaks down and social support is inadequate or unavailable. Women, because of their low status in some societies, may receive less food than men from early childhood through their adult life. Many work longer hours than men and their strength may be sapped by frequent pregnancies. Anaemia is common among women. And malnourishment increases the likelihood that the babies they bear will have low birth weights and die in infancy. Refugees and displaced people, victims of political upheavals or natural disasters, depend mainly on the availability of emergency food aid.