The World Health Organization (WHO) defines malnutrition as “the cellular imbalance between the supply of nutrients and energy and the body’s demand for them to ensure growth, maintenance, and specific functions”. This imbalance includes both inadequate and excessive energy intake; the former leading to malnutrition in the form of wasting, stunting and underweight, and the latter resulting in overweight and obesity.
Deficiencies of macronutrient and micronutrient adversely affect growth, body composition, muscle strength, intelligence, body development and quality of life in the pediatric age group.
In children, under nutrition manifests as underweight and stunting (short stature), while severely undernourished children present with the symptoms and signs that characterize conditions known as kwashiorkor, marasmus or marasmic-kwashiorkor.
Malnutrition generally implies under nutrition and refers to all deviations from adequate and optimal nutritional status in infants, children and in adults.
Deficiency in macronutrients such as protein, carbohydrates and fat provoke protein-calorie malnutrition (PCM), and when combined with micronutrient deficiencies, they are among the most important nutritional problems with hundreds of millions of pregnant women, elderly and young children particularly affected.
Malnutrition is one of the most important underlying causes of child mortality in developing countries, particularly during the first 5 years of life (Pelletier, D.L., 1995), the major causes for this are poverty, world conflicts, lack of education, natural disasters and poor access to health care. PCM usually manifests early in children between 6 months and 2 years of age and is associated with early weaning, delayed...
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Malnutrition has lifelong implications because it severely reduces a child’s ability to learn and grow to their full potential and leads to less productive adults, ill performance and wastage of government resources.
Certain researches and studies have proven that the relationship between infection and malnutrition is bidirectional 36,37. A variety of mechanisms cause impairs immunity as a result of malnutrition, leading to increased susceptibility to infections. On the other hand infection causes loss of important micro and macro nutrients leading to alter nutritional levels.
Malnourished children acquire bacterial gastrointestinal and respiratory infections more frequently. 42. Malnutrition significantly compromises mucosal epithelial barriers in the gastrointestinal, respiratory and urogenital tracts which are first line of defense against infections.
Nutrition is the process of consuming food and utilizing the nutrients from the food eaten (“Nutrition.”). It is very important to have enough nutrition for a growing teenager as it helps to develop and strengthen the bones along with growth and development (“Adolescent and School Health.”). Nutrition is very vital for the growing body as it helps prevent certain diseases and helps give the proper development and nourishment (HAGIKALFA). There are multiple nutrients that help maintain development and nutrition such as carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water. If there was a lack of nutrition in a growing teenager, the teenager will not be able to have enough nutrition to grow and they will be more prone to sickness and diseases (“Hunger and Malnutrition.”). A malnourished teenager will may end up having muscle weakness, fatigue, dizziness, fragile bones, tooth decay, and much more (“Hunger and Malnutrition.”).
In the year 2010, the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead was released. In the film, Australian native Joe Cross has realized that his health is worsening very fast. So Cross finally decides that he will turn his life around by taking an extreme diet that will deprive him of macronutrients for 60 days. Macronutrients are nutrients found in foods other than fruits and vegetables. Micronutrients are those nutrients found in fruits and vegetables. Micronutrients provide minerals such as Vitamin A, Iodine, Iron, Folate, and Zinc. While the body does not need these in large amounts, they are essential to the body because they help develop disease prevention and promote well-being. Micronutrients are important to include
World hunger is a very important epidemic because of the risks or implications it imposes on the rest of the world. Juveniles are the utmost apparent victims of under-nutrition. 2.6 million children die as a result of hunger-related causes each year. 66 million school-aged children go to classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone. One in four of the world's youth are kept from growing due to malnutrition. In developing countries the proportion can rise to one in three. A strong maternal-infant bond provided through psychosocial stimulation is essential for positive child development. The formation of this bond at the beginning of life is an essential step that sets the stage for cognitive,emotional, and social development later in life. Feeding and other care practices provide opportunities for psychosocial stimulation and help to establish a positive attachment between caregiver and child.(WHO) Under-nutrition magnifies the effect of every disease, such as measles,diarrhea and malaria. Asia has the largest number of hungry people (over 500 million) however S...
A considerable effort has been done in terms of defining the social issue of Child Hunger or hunger in general for policy purposes. Both private and public sectors, with the cooperation of the government agencies, privately funded advocate groups, and academic institutions have used the method to measure hunger by self-report of his or her own experience of suffering from hunger. (Lewit and Kerrebrock, 1997, Pg 129). According to Lewit and Kerrebrock (1997) poverty is defined as “an inadequate amount of food intake due to a lock of money or resources” (pg.129) or “The mental or physical condition that comes from not eating enough food due to insufficient economic, family, or community resources.” (pg.129). As it stands today, Hunger is now defined with the term “Food insecurity” which means families or individuals are unable to secure or afford nutritious safe food in order to have a healthy active lifestyle.
Children suffer from the effects of starvation more quickly than adults do. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), malnutrition contributes to the deaths of more than 6 million children under age five each year. Typically, starving children develop a condition called protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). The two most common forms of PEM, marasmus and kwashiorkor, occur in all developing countries and are life-threatening conditions. Marasmus occurs when a child is weaned earlier than normal and receives foods low in nutrients.
The effects of nutrition can begin before birth, with the nutrition of the mother. Under nutrition can result in negative effects of the development of the brain that can become permanent and irreversible. One example is the lack of iron, which is a necessary part of the brain’s tissue. When iron deficiency is present nerve impulses tend to move slower. “Iron deficiency…is associated with behavior changes and delayed psychomotor development” (Nutrition and Cognitive Development, 2001), as well as decrease attention span, irritability, fatigue, and difficultly with concentration. “ Anemia is one of the most prevalent nutritional disorders in the world, affecting nearly one quarter of all low-income children in the United States”(Rosenberg,1998). Iron deficiently anemia effects many young children in our country and has been linked to a child’s ability to learn by influencing attention span and memory. Besides iron, there can be iodine deficiently as well that can occur during the early years of a child. Reduced cognition and achievement in school can be associated with iodine deficiency. Researchers have also proven a decrease in protein intake with in diets can have an effect on achievement scores. Overall, under nutrition can results in a decrease of activity, social interaction, curiosity and cognitive functioning. This is proof of how the prenatal period of a child is the most important. “Recent evidence indicates that 15 percent of very low birth weight children and nearly 5 percent of low birth weight children require special education, compared to 4.3 percent of children born at normal birth weight”(Children’s Nutrition and Learning, 1994). Infants that are b...
There are also multiple deficiencies the children suffer from that have serious side-effects on their health. The effects of undernutrition doesn’t stop at wasting, being underweight, and stunting, but it can also increase the chances of the child being susceptible to disease and death (Basset, 2010). It can also affect their mental and physical development which in turn affects how well they do in school. Although Haiti has been making improvement on their undernutrition problem with children, they still have higher rates for being underweight and wasting. One in every ten children under the age of 10 in Haiti are wasted, one in every three are stunted and two in every ten are underweight according to a survey conducted by the fourth national Haiti Demographic and Health Survey (Ayoya et al., 2013). They also found that the stunting occurs more often in rural areas versus urban due to the rural area being higher in
The nutritional assessment is a systematic process of obtaining, verifying, and interpreting data in order to make decisions about obese or malnourished patients. It is an ongoing process that involves data collection followed by continued reassessment and analysis of the patient’s status compared with specific criteria. The patients’ BMI, score, risk which is based on low, medium and high. The loss of subcutaneous fat, muscle waste is used as evidence of malnutrition and also a dull, dry sparse hair can signify a possible protein energy deficiency. The elderly is particularly prone to wounds caused by dehydration. Gandy (2014) highlights four main causes of malnutrition as altered nutrients intake, impaired digestion or absorption and
According to the UN’s Standing Committee on Nutrition, malnutrition “is the single largest contributor to disease in the world.” Malnutrition is the lack of nutritious food or not having enough to eat. Malnutrition can lead to stunted growth, impaired learning abilities, weak immune system, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, and many other problems based off of the nutrients the body is lacking. In pregnant mothers, it can also lead to stillbirth, miscarriage, and other complications. In the Dominican Republic, this is a large issue that affects numerous urban families. With 20% of the entire population living in extreme poverty and an increasing population, this issue is becoming more prominent with every passing day.
“Malnourished children are 20% less literate than those with a healthier diet, says UK charity Save the Children” (The Information Daily). When parents become victims of poverty it can have some very unpleasing long and short term effects to their children. Parents in poverty have a lot on their plate and buying the best quality food or affording enough food can be a tumultuous task. Quality nutrition is essential for the development of the brain. At a young age, poor nutrition or not enough nutrition can seriously hinder “the brain 's development, a child’s ability to learn and has a devastating impact on a child’s future”(The Information Daily). “Malnutrition in the early developmental stages of the brain, by restricting the children’s cognitive growth, can lower a child 's IQ has much has 20 points”(The Information Daily). Long term effects of malnutrition leave permanent damage to the brain, however, malnutrition has short term effects as well. Malnourishment can greatly compromise a child’s immune system, making them more susceptible to infectious diseases. “Low counts of zinc, iron and vitamin A are commonly associated with weakened immune function” (Orphan Nutrition). A deadly infection can have a huge impact on a poverty stricken family leading to less affordability. Malnutrition negatively affects a student throughout their educational
Even though there are numerous families that struggle to put food on the table, protein deficiency is rare in the United States, but can be seen in third world countries like Africa. However, protein deficiency disorders can occur even in the United States with people suffering from “alcoholism, anorexia nervosa, or certain intestinal tract disorders, [as well as] those who are elderly, have limited incomes, and are chronically ill”(Schiff 2013). Under nutrition of any kind is due to a lack of food in some fashion whether from crop failures, political unrest, or civil wars, but the etiology of Kwashiorkor and other protein deficiencies is often more complicated. Protein energy malnutrition (also known as PEM) affects people who do not consume sufficient amounts of protein. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 18% of children are underweight due to malnutrition of some kind, including protein-energy malnutrition. There are in fact two types of PEM, kwashiorkor and marasmus. Kwashiorkor is the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in developing countries, primarily occurring where mothers breastfeed their infants until they give birth to another child. The older
To the United Nations, nearly a quarter of children under the age of five are expected to remain underweight in two thousand and fifteen. The World Health Organization has reported hunger and related malnutrition as the greatest single threat to the world's public health. Improving nutrition is widely regarded as the most effective form of aid. Nutrition-specific interventions, which address the immediate causes of under nutrition, have been proven to deliver among the best value for money of all development interventions. In Africa, rates have been increasing for malnourished people (Hanson 204-5). For hundreds of millions of people, starvation is a daily threat. In the poor nations of Africa, Asia, Latin America, billions of hungry people face starvation. It begins with an ache in your stomach that eventually weakens your heart and stops beating. Today about five billion of the world’s five point nine billion live in poor nations. (“Hunger and Malnutrition” web).
Good nutrition is the bedrock of human well-being (Jessica C Fanzo, 2014). The assessments of capacity in nutrition to date highlight the global shortages, in quality, quantity, and geographic coverage, of an effective workforce for nutrition in the world (Jessica C Fanzo, 2014).
Malnutrition and unclean water are major causes of death in developing countries. While people in developed countries have access to a glass of fresh water anytime of the day, it’s quite the contrary for people in developed countries whose only source of water is the river that’s miles away. This goes for food as well. Undernourished kids have a hard time developing and are less resistant to diseases (i). Insufficient nutrients contribute to rising child mortality (ii); mothers are unable to breastfeed their babies since they are undernourished themselves (ii). In some instances, girls are required to eat last after the males due to their culture. The consequences of malnutrition are many; the leading results are lower IQs, heart disease, and diabetes (ii). Victims are prone to malaria, measles, and HIV/AIDS as well (8). Diarrhea also serves as a catalyst for undernourishment since it strips the body of its nutrients (iii). The two different types of malnutrition are Kwashiorkor and Marasmus, both being severe and fatal (iv). Data illustrating the rate of diarrhea and respiratory diseases caused by malnutrition is dangerously and steadily increasing (v). As of now, there are 925 million undernourished people in the world; that’s 1 in 7 people (vi). The top countries that suffer from this are Haiti, Anglo, and Guatemala (vii). In Haiti, 53 people out of 100,000 die of undernourishment (vii). Poverty is the biggest factor in malnutrition; in some nations, economic and political power is handled by the wealth minority who could care less about the rest of the citizens’ well-being. In developing nations, 773 million people go without access to clean water (viii). The only access some communities have is from a river that’s miles away ...
In countries around the world and in the United States, meeting deficiency needs for all children should be number one priority. However, deficiency needs were not met in the past, and even though steps have been taken to help meet deficiency needs, meeting those deficiency needs adequately is still a problem today.