Malnutrition is not the same thing.

Drug addicts and alcoholics often are malnourished - not because food is withheld from them, but because they are more interested in drugs and alcohol than food. The same goes for seriously ill people.

As far as alcohol goes, it's also because it's toxic as hell and actively stopping your body from absorbing what it needs from food.

Extraordinary claims require a citation.

Edit: The parent appears to have committed the cardinal sin of believing CNN, which made this claim here[0], but cited a CDC report[1] does not support the assertion. I went looking for the underlying NCHS data, but couldn't find it.

[0]https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/21/health/nutritional-deficiency... [1]https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr031.pdf

Compare that to 1922 when population was much lower.