“…Physical growth is a measure of population health and an effective indicator of socio‐environmental conditions. Often, children and youths residing in rural settings in low‐ and middle‐income countries are shorter and lighter‐weight than children from urban settlements and exhibit higher rates of chronic and acute undernutrition (Blanco et al, 1992; Castillo et al, 2016; Cordeiro et al, 2021; Ling & Xu, 2023; Veile et al, 2022; Zou et al, 2016) owing to several factors, including food insecurity, infectious diseases, limited access to health services, and poor household infrastructure. In recent decades, the economic and sociocultural changes experienced by rural populations in Latin America, Asia, and Africa have caused changes in the anthropometric profiles of children and adults, contributing to the coexistence of chronic undernutrition (low height‐for‐age) and overweight/obesity at the individual, family, and population levels (Popkin et al, 2020; Tzioumis et al, 2016).…”