When food prices skyrocket during an economic crisis, urban populations and people with low levels of education are primarily affected. This can have lifelong negative health consequences – such as stunted growth in children.
A research team at the University of Bonn has now demonstrated such long-term effects using the example of the "Asian financial crisis" in the 1990s. At that time, turmoil on the financial markets led to a drastic increase in the price of rice, Indonesia's most important staple food, which left measurable traces in the development of children. The study was published in the journal "Global Food Security."