Malnutrition

Malnutrition
Underfed child in Dolo Ado, Ethiopia, at an MSF treatment tent
SpecialtyCritical care medicine
SymptomsProblems with physical or mental development; poor energy levels; hair loss; swollen legs and abdomen[1][2]
CausesEating a diet with too few or too many nutrients; malabsorption[3][4]
Risk factorsLack of breastfeeding; gastroenteritis; pneumonia; malaria; measles; poverty; homelessness[5]
PreventionImproving agricultural practices; reducing poverty; improving sanitation; education
TreatmentImproved nutrition; supplementation; ready-to-use therapeutic foods; treating the underlying cause[6][7][8]
MedicationEating food with enough nutrients on a near daily basis
Frequency733 million undernourished / 9.1% of the population (2023)[9]
Deaths406,000 from nutritional deficiencies (2015)[10]

Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems.[11][12] Specifically, it is a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients which adversely affects the body's tissues and form.[13]

Malnutrition is a category of diseases that includes undernutrition and overnutrition.[14] Undernutrition is a lack of nutrients, which can result in stunted growth, wasting, and being underweight.[15] A surplus of nutrients causes overnutrition, which can result in obesity or toxic levels of micronutrients. In some developing countries, overnutrition in the form of obesity is beginning to appear within the same communities as undernutrition.[16]

Most clinical studies use the term 'malnutrition' to refer to undernutrition. However, the use of 'malnutrition' instead of 'undernutrition' makes it impossible to distinguish between undernutrition and overnutrition, a less acknowledged form of malnutrition.[13][17] Accordingly, a 2019 report by The Lancet Commission suggested expanding the definition of malnutrition to include "all its forms, including obesity, undernutrition, and other dietary risks."[18] The World Health Organization[19] and The Lancet Commission have also identified "[t]he double burden of malnutrition", which occurs from "the coexistence of overnutrition (overweight and obesity) alongside undernutrition (stunted growth and wasting)."[20][21]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference FFL2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Young2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dor2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference PapadiaDiSabatino2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference WHO2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference UK2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bh2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference KastinBuchman2002 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024". fao.org. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. December 27, 2024. Retrieved June 29, 2025.
  10. ^ Wang, Haidong; Naghavi, Mohsen; Allen, Christine; Barber, Ryan M.; et al. (GBD 2015 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators) (October 8, 2016). "Global, regional, and national life expectancy, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes of death, 1980–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015". Lancet. 388 (10053): 1459–1544. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(16)31012-1. PMC 5388903. PMID 27733281.
  11. ^ Katsilambros N (2011). Clinical Nutrition in Practice. John Wiley & Sons. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-4443-4777-7.
  12. ^ "Malnutrition". www.who.int. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
  13. ^ a b Hickson, Mary; Smith, Sara, eds. (2018). Advanced nutrition and dietetics in nutrition support. Hoboken, NJ. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-118-99386-6. OCLC 1004376424.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. ^ "WHO, nutrition experts take action on malnutrition". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on April 14, 2011. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
  15. ^ Lenters, Lindsey; Wazny, Kerri; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A. (2016), Black, Robert E.; Laxminarayan, Ramanan; Temmerman, Marleen; Walker, Neff (eds.), "Management of Severe and Moderate Acute Malnutrition in Children", Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health: Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (Volume 2), Washington (DC): The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0348-2_ch11, ISBN 978-1-4648-0348-2, PMID 27227221, retrieved May 3, 2024
  16. ^ "Progress For Children: A Report Card On Nutrition" (PDF). UNICEF. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 12, 2021. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  17. ^ Ngaruiya, C., Hayward, A., Post, L. and Mowafi, H., 2017. "Obesity as a form of malnutrition: over-nutrition on the Uganda 'malnutrition' agenda". Pan African Medical Journal, 28, p. 49.
  18. ^ Swinburn, B., Kraak, V., Allender, S., et al., 2019. "The Global Syndemic of Obesity, Undernutrition, and Climate Change: The Lancet Commission report." The Lancet, 393(10173), pp. 791–846.
  19. ^ References Min, J., Zhao, Y., Slivka, L. and Wang, Y., 2017. "Double burden of diseases worldwide: coexistence of undernutrition and overnutrition-related non-communicable chronic diseases". Obesity Reviews, 19(1), pp. 49–61.
  20. ^ "The Double Burden of Malnutrition". The Lancet Commission. December 16, 2019. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  21. ^ Ghattas, H., Acharya, Y., Jamaluddine, Z., Assi, M., El Asmar, K. and Jones, A., 2020. The child-level double burden of malnutrition in the MENA and LAC regions: Prevalence and social determinants. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 16(2).
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