Effects of generalized malnutrition on personality.

Anecdotal reports of changes in behavior under conditions of severe, protracted food deficits are of ancient lineage, whereas the psychometric investigations of the 20th century have been concerned primarily with the impairment of intellectual functioning in children who suffer or have suffered from protein-energy malnutrition. The present overview begins with the account of systematic observations of the behavioral effects of grossly inadequate food intake in World War II camps for prisoners of war and under conditions of epidemic starvation. The presentation is centered on quantitative assessments of personality-related aspects of behavior in a variety of contexts. The studies include laboratory investigations on the effects of severe food restriction in young men; examination of the differences between undernourished and well-nourished infants; assessment of the effects of the differences in the level of energy supplements during gestation, infancy, and early preschool years on social-emotional behavior in the early school years; and an investigation of long-term sequelae of clinical protein-energy malnutrition experienced in infancy.