Malnutrition

Malnutrition in the broad sense should include undernutrition or deficiency and overnutrition. Only the former is discussed. Malnutrition is often secondary to medical and surgical causes, such as chronic diarrhea, short bowel syndrome, and malabsorption disorders. The non-medical cause of malnutrition is a shortage of poor food. Lack of nutrition knowledge, parents ignore scientific feeding methods. Malnourished patients in developed countries can usually be treated by treating the primary disease, providing appropriate diets, educating parents and carefully following up. But in many Third World countries, malnutrition is the leading cause of child death. There are complex interactions between malnutrition, social habits, the environment, and acute and chronic infections, so that treatment is very difficult, and it is not just a matter of providing adequate food.