Malnutrition

Malnutrition occurs when a person gets too few or too many nutrients, which causes health problems. It is a deficiency, excess or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients that harms the tissues and form of the body. The term covers a group of conditions that includes undernutrition and overnutrition. Undernutrition is a lack of nutrients and can show as stunted growth, wasting and being underweight, and it can come from protein-energy wasting or from deficiencies of micronutrients such as iodine, vitamin A and iron. Two forms of protein-energy malnutrition are kwashiorkor, which is chiefly caused by too little protein, and marasmus, which comes from a diet lacking both protein and energy. Overnutrition is a surplus of nutrients and can lead to obesity or to toxic levels of micronutrients. In some developing countries overnutrition now appears in the same communities as undernutrition, a pattern called the double burden of malnutrition. Many clinical studies use the word malnutrition to mean undernutrition alone, which hides the difference between the two, and a 2019 Lancet Commission suggested widening the definition to all its forms. Undernutrition is a major cause of death among children under five and, when it occurs during pregnancy or before the age of two, it can leave permanent harm to physical and mental development.