Malnutrition

Disturbance of form or function arising from deficiency or excess of one or more nutrients.

Inadequate supply of nutrients.

A nutritional deficiency due to the lack of the basic elements of a balanced diet. Usually brought on by a severe food shortage, malnutrition can also be caused by inadequate absorption of food or an intake of inappropriate food. The term malnutrition also increasingly refers to the kind of excessive eating that causes obesity.

An overall term for poor nourishment may be due to an inadequate diet or to some defect in metabolism that prevents the body for utilizing nutrients properly.

A lack of food or of good-quality food, leading to ill-health.

The state of not having enough to eat.

Condition of the body usually resulting from deficiency or lack of balance in essential nutrients. especially the major nutrients. Excessive intake of nutrients can also cause malnutrition.

The condition of a person who does not receive a proper proportion of all essential nutrients.

Inadequate or unbalanced intake of essential nutrients.

Malnutrition occurs when one or more nutrients is deficient in the diet or eaten in excess. In the case of deficiency, an essential nutrient or total energy may be deficient in the diet. In the case of excess, many nutrients can produce toxic effects and excess energy intake can cause obesity. The effects of micronutrient deficiency or toxicity are specific to each nutrient.

Malnutrition is defined as a condition in which the body does not obtain a sufficient supply of essential nutrients over an extended period of time. Others describe malnutrition as a state of altered nutrition that may occur from either too much or too little nourishment. The causes of malnutrition are numerous and include medical inability to absorb nutrients, financial constraints, refusal to eat certain foods or food groups, lack of appropriate nutritional information, illness, stress, trauma, and eating disorders.

A condition of having an improper amount and balance of nutrients to maintain proper body functioning. Malnutrition is most often thought of as referring to deficiencies in the diet, such as insufficient protein, vitamins, and minerals, which can lead to deficiency diseases. But malnutrition also can stem from excessive amounts of food or vitamin and mineral supplements and from a wide variety of disorders that hinder the body from properly absorbing and using the nutrients found in foods. In Western countries, various government programs are available to help combat nutrient deficiency; apart from poor and homeless families not reached by such programs, general nutrient deficiency is most often associated with alcohol abuse, drug abuse, or eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

State of poor nutrition, resulting from an insufficient, excessive, or unbalanced diet or from impaired ability to absorb and assimilate foods.

A nutritional disorder that results from an imbalanced, inadequate, or excessive diet. Malnutrition may also be due to an underlying medical condition that interferes with the ability to obtain nutrients from foods.

The condition caused by an improper balance between what an individual eats and what he requires to maintain health. This can result from eating too little (sub-nutrition or starvation) but may also imply dietary excess or an incorrect balance of basic foodstuffs such as protein, fat, and carbohydrate. A deficiency (or excess) of one or more minerals, vitamins, or other essential ingredients may arise from malabsorption of digested food or metabolic malfunction of one or more parts of the body as well as from an unbalanced diet.

The condition arising from an inadequate or unbalanced diet. The causes may be a lack of one or more essential nutrients, or inadequate absorption from the intestinal tract. A diet that is deficient in carbohydrate usually contains inadequate protein, and this type of malnutrition occurs widely in Africa and Asia as a result of poverty, famine or war.

Any disease-promoting condition resulting from either an inadequate or excessive exposure to nutrients (i.e., undernutrition or overnutrition, respectively). Common causes of malnutrition are inadequate calorie consumption; inadequate intake of essential vitamins, minerals, or other micronutrients; improper absorption and distribution of foods within the body; overeating; and intoxication by nutrient excesses.

A disorder caused by a lack of proper nutrition or an inability to absorb nutrients from food.

Any condition in which a person’s nutrient consumption is inadequate or unbalanced, usually as the result of consuming too little of one or more nutrients.

The concept in question is frequently misconstrued as solely pertaining to inadequate nourishment, when in fact, it encompasses a state of both malnourishment and over-nourishment.