In 2020, it was anticipated that 149 million children under the age of five were stunted (too short for their age), 45 million were wasted (too thin for their height), and 38.9 million were overweight or obese. Overweight or obese people account for 1.9 billion adults, whereas underweight individuals account for 462 million. Undernutrition is responsible for almost 45 percent of mortality among children under the age of five, based on the statistics of World Health Organization (WHO). Although we live in modern society, malnutrition is still common in many places in the world.
According to WHO, “Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients.” The term malnutrition covers 2 broad groups of conditions:
Children who are malnourished are more susceptible to serious illnesses. Chronic malnutrition or stunting, which occurs when children are too small for their age due to a lack of nourishment, poor care, or living in unsanitary conditions, may have a severe and pervasive influence on a child’s physical and cognitive ability.
In underdeveloped nations, poverty is the leading cause of malnutrition. Residents here frequently suffer from the lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Many localities lack full-service grocery stores that carry fresh vegetables on a daily basis. Chronic malnutrition is also becoming more prevalent in conflict-affected areas where food and water have become a life-threatening problem.
Some digestive conditions may cause malnutrition. For example, Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis is the reason for the disruption of your ability to digest food and absorb nutrition. Long-term conditions such as vomiting and diarrhea will result in the loss of appetite and changes in bowel habits.
Maternal nutrition during pregnancy does not ensure adequate and balanced groups of substances: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals, as well as essential vitamins and minerals, is one of the causes of malnutrition in infants. Fetal malnutrition leads to a lot of both short-term and long-term effects on children.
Short-term effects include:
Long-term effects include:
The most popular sign of malnutrition is weight loss. If your body mass index (BMI) is under 18.5, you may experience this disease. However, even if you have a normal weight or are overweight, it is still possible to get malnutrition due to the deficiency of necessary nutrition.
Other symptoms which cannot be avoided are reduced appetite, loss of interest in food and drink, exhaustion, getting ill often and taking a long time to recover, wounds taking a long time to heal, poor concentration, feeling cold most of the time, depression.
Making a dietary plan with sufficient four major groups of nutrients:
Supplementing with additional nutrients is also advised. These should only be used under the supervision of a medical practitioner.
For some patients who are unable to eat anything by mouth, Artificial tubes put via the nose into the stomach may be used to feed. This is known as the nasogastric tube, and it is used to administer liquid nutrient solutions. Nasogastric tubes are intended for temporary usage and can last up to six weeks.
A tube may be surgically placed straight into the stomach in some people. It has an opening on the outside that covers the abdomen. A PEG tube that can be used to administer liquid nutrients is a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube. Patients with esophageal cancer or other diseases that make feeding through the mouth and esophagus problematic can take advantage of this. These endure for around two years before needing to be replaced.
Some people may require nutrients to be injected directly into their arm veins via infusion, which is called parenteral nutrition. This can be made at home with supervision, but in most cases, hospitalization is required.
For impoverished lands or war zones where people don’t have little chance to access adequate food, support from different communities all over the world is crucial to help improve the quality of their life. Food supplies should be deployed regularly by people as well as international organizations to ensure that people there have enough nutritious food every day.
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