Malnutrition
Submitted By
Devansh Sharma
Class XI-F
Roll No.- 12
Kulachi Hansraj Model School
Ashok Vihar, Delhi
Malnutrition is an imbalance in dietary intake.
It occurs when a person has too much or too little food or essential nutrients.
A person with malnutrition may lack vitamins, minerals, and other essential substances that their body needs to
function. People may become malnourished if they do not eat enough food
overall. However, people who eat plenty but do not have enough variation in
their diet can also become malnourished.
Malnutrition can lead to:
- short- and long-term health problems
- slow recovery from wounds and illnesses
- a higher risk of infection
Some deficiencies can trigger specific health problems. For example:
Lack of vitamin A
Around the world, many children develop vision problems Trusted Source due to a lack of
vitamin A.
Lack of vitamin C
A lack of vitamin C Trusted Source can result in scurvy.
Scurvy is rare in the United States (U.S.), but it can develop if a
person does not have a varied diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables. Fresh,
frozen, and canned fruits and vegetables all contain vitamin C.
People who are particularly at risk of scurvy include:
- older adults
- young children
- those who consume a lot of alcohol
- some people with certain mental health
conditions
An overall deficiency
Malnutrition can lead to marasmus, which
is a severe form of malnutrition. Marasmus is a deficiency of protein and
overall energy intake. A person with marasmus will have very little muscle or
fat on their body. The overall prevalence of malnutrition was 46% in the
present study with 18% of study subjects being underweight, whereas 28% were
overweight. Of the underweight adolescents, almost 13% were thin and 5%
severely thin, whereas 21% of participants were overweight and about 7% were
found to be obese
Some signs and symptoms of
malnutrition include:
- weight
loss
- a
lack of appetite or interest in food or drink
- tiredness and
irritability
- an
inability to concentrate
- always
feeling cold
- depression
- loss
of fat, muscle mass, and body tissue
- a
higher risk of getting sick and taking longer to heal
- longer
healing time for wounds
Symptoms in adults vs. children
Children may present with different
malnutrition symptoms than adults.
In children, there may
be:
- a lack of growth and low body
weight
- tiredness and a lack of energy
- irritability and anxiety
- slow behavioral and intellectual
development, possibly resulting in learning difficulties
Treatment is possible. In some cases, however,
malnutrition can have long-term effects.
Causes
Low intake of food
Some people develop malnutrition because there is not enough food
available, or because they have difficulty eating or absorbing nutrients.
This can happen as a result of:
- cancer
- liver
disease
- conditions that cause nausea or make it difficult to eat or swallow
- taking medications that make eating
difficult — due to nausea, for example
Mouth problems such as poorly fitting dentures may also contribute to
malnutrition.
Mental health conditions
Undernutrition or malnutrition can affect
people with:
Social and mobility problems
Factors that can affect a person’s eating habits and potentially lead to
malnutrition include:
- being unable to leave the house or go to
a store to buy food
- finding it physically difficult to
prepare meals
- living alone, which can affect a person’s
motivation to cook and eat
- having limited cooking skills
- not having enough money to spend on food
Digestive disorders and stomach conditions
If the body does not absorb nutrients efficiently, even a healthful diet
may not prevent malnutrition.
Examples of digestive and stomach conditions that may cause this
include:
- Crohn’s disease
- ulcerative
colitis
- celiac disease
- persistent diarrhea, vomiting, or both
Alcohol use disorder
Consuming a lot of alcohol can lead to gastritis or long-term damage to the pancreas. These issues can make it hard
to:
- digest food
- absorb vitamins
- produce hormones that regulate metabolism
Alcohol also contains calories, so a person may not feel hungry after drinking it. They may,
therefore, not eat enough healthful food to supply the body with essential
nutrients.
Risk factors
In some parts of the world, widespread and long-term
malnutrition can result from a lack of food.
In wealthier nations, however, those most at risk of
malnutrition include:
- older adults,
especially when they are in the hospital or in long-term institutional
care
- people
who are socially isolated — for example, due to mobility issues, health
problems, or other factors
- people
with a low income
- people
recovering from or living with a serious illness or condition
- those
who have difficulty absorbing nutrients
- people
with chronic eating
disorders,
such as bulimia nervosa or
anorexia nervosa
Treatment
If a doctor diagnoses malnutrition, they will make a
treatment plan for the person. The person may also need to meet with a dietician and
other healthcare professionals. Treatment will depend on
the severity of the malnutrition and the presence of any other underlying
conditions or complications. It may include:
- ongoing
screening and monitoring
- making
a dietary plan, which might include taking supplements
- treating
specific symptoms, such as nausea
- treating
any infections that may be present
- checking
for any mouth or swallowing problems
- suggesting
alternative eating utensils
In severe cases, a doctor may administer nutrients
intravenously (through an IV). The person’s healthcare team will continue to
monitor them to ensure they get the nutrition they
need.
Prevention
To prevent malnutrition, people need to consume a range
of nutrients from various food types. Older adults, young children, people with
severe or chronic illness, and others may need additional care to obtain the
nutrients they need. Anyone who starts to show signs of malnutrition or
undernutrition should see a doctor for a diagnosis and treatment. In the U.S., effective treatment is usually
available, although the outlook and time needed for recovery will depend on the
cause of the malnutrition.
Summary
Malnutrition is the result of an
improper diet. It can result from too few nutrients (undernutrition) or too
many nutrients (overnutrition). People who experience undernutrition often
have:
- low
weight
- difficulty
recovering from injuries
- lack
of appetite
- fatigue
- depression
- among other
symptoms
But malnutrition is not the result of
poor diet choices in every case. Sometimes, malnutrition occurs because a
person:
- does
not have easy access to food
- cannot
leave their home to buy food
- cannot
cook meals
- has
a digestive disorder that prevents their body from properly absorbing
nutrients
. In India adolescents and young people aged 10-19 years, account for nearly one quarter of the total population. They deserve much needed attention as they hold the key to breaking entrenched cycles of poverty, inequity and deprivation.
UNICEF works across India to
establish and implement policies and programmes to improve the nutritional
status of adolescents, both in and out of school. We advocate and support
actions to help adolescents make healthy food and beverage choices, promote
physical activity, and the prevention and treatment of anaemia. We also work
with other sectors, such as education, social policy and water and sanitation
to tackle the underlying causes of poor nutrition.
Food fortification plays an
essential role in preventing vitamin and mineral deficiencies including iron,
folic acid, vitamin A, and iodine. UNICEF in India supports the development of
state-specific communication strategies to improve the compliance of iron-folic
acid tablets and reaching out to populations usually left out. There are two
ongoing innovations in this area. The first is a positive deviance informed
communication for improving compliance of WIFS in Khunti district, Jharkhand.
The second is engaging girls’ collectives to address anaemia and social norms
in self-contained, privately managed tea plantations in Assam. The
initiative brings focus on denominator-based HMIS reporting, prepositioning
iron and folic acid supplies, establishing national Programme Management Unit
for anaemia and national and state centre of excellence and advanced research
on anaemia.
The girls and women’s nutrition
impact evaluation (Swabhimaan) across three states (Bihar, Odisha and
Chhattisgarh) programme across five blocks affected by stark inequities and
poverty in three states and was scaled-up across 14 blocks. The Initiative received
a national award and now is being scaled-up country-wide in a phased manner as
National Rural Livelihood Mission Contribution to Poshan Abhiyaan. For this, a
national centre of women collectives has established in Lady Irwin College.
References
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