MALNUTRITION

The type of food you eat matters a lot when it comes to your body growth and nutrition. Malnutrition are deficiencies in which individuals are malnourished, or suffer from undernutrition.

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Malnutrition happens when diet does not provide the adequate calories and protein for maintenance and growth, or inability to fully utilize the food eating due to illnesses such as Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, cystic fibrosis, coeliac disease, or persistent diarrhoea or vomiting.

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Causes of malnutrition

• Lack of balanced diet
• Improper digestion
• Lack of a Regulated Diet
• Dirty Environment
• Lack of Enough Sleep and Rest
  
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• Bodily Diseases
• Heavy work
• Poverty
• Illiteracy And Ignorance
• Drug or alcohol abuse
• Digestive illnesses such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease
• Diarrhea, nausea or vomiting.
• Certain medications

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Symptoms of malnutrition

Signs and symptoms of malnutrition (subnutrition) include:5

1. Loss of fat (adipose tissue)
2. Breathing difficulties, a higher risk of respiratory failure
3. Depression
4. Higher risk of complications after surgery
5. Higher risk of hypothermia - abnormally low body temperature
6. The total number of some types of white blood cells falls; consequently, the immune system is weakened, increasing the risk of infections.
7. Higher susceptibility to feeling cold
8. Longer healing times for wound
9. Longer recover times from infections
10. Longer recovery from illnesses
11. Lower sex drive
12. Problems with fertility
13. Reduced muscle mass
14. Reduced tissue mass
15. Tiredness, fatigue, or apathy
16. Irritability.
17. Skin may become thin, dry, inelastic, pale, and cold
18. Eventually, as fat in the face is lost, the cheeks look hollow and the eyes sunken
19. Hair becomes dry and sparse, falling out easily.
    
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Treatment of malnutrition

Once individuals and those involved in their care are aware of the problem, often simple measures to increase food intake may be enough to reverse the downward cycle. Diet plan needs to be made balanced so as to allow for weight gain along with provision of vitamins and minerals while for those who cannot eat normally a feeding tube can be used to provide nutrients directly into the digestive system or nutrients available as injectable preparations could be infused directly into one of the blood vessels.

THERE ARE SO MANY MALNOURISHED PEOPLE MOST ESPECIALLY CHILDREN ROUND THE WORLD. IT WOULDN'T BE BAD IF YOU SHOW LOVE TO THEM AND HELP THEM OUT OF IT

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REFERENCE
WHO
Medline plus
Web MB