Learn About Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that occurs when your body does not get enough nutrients.
Nutrition - inadequate
There are many types of malnutrition, and they have different causes. Some causes include:
- Poor diet
- Starvation due to food not being available
- Eating disorders
- Problems with digesting food or absorbing nutrients from food (malabsorption)
- Certain medical conditions that make a person unable to eat
You may develop malnutrition if you lack a single vitamin in your diet. Lacking a vitamin or other nutrient is called a deficiency.
Sometimes malnutrition is very mild and causes no symptoms. Other times it can be so severe that the damage it does to the body is permanent, even though you survive.
Poverty, natural disasters, political problems, and war can all contribute to malnutrition and starvation, and not just in developing countries.
Some health conditions that are related to malnutrition are:
- Malabsorption
- Hunger
- Beriberi
- Binge eating
- Deficiency - Vitamin A
- Deficiency - Vitamin B1 (thiamine)
- Deficiency - Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)
- Deficiency - Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)
- Deficiency - Vitamin B9 (folacin)
- Deficiency - Vitamin E
- Deficiency - Vitamin K
- Eating disorders (bulimia and anorexia)
- Kwashiorkor
- Megaloblastic anemia
- Pellagra
- Rickets
- Scurvy
- Spina bifida
Malnutrition is a significant problem all over the world, especially among children. It is very harmful to children because it affects brain development and other growth. Children who suffer from malnutrition may have lifelong problems.
Symptoms of malnutrition vary and depend on its cause. General symptoms include fatigue, dizziness, and weight loss.
Treatment most often consists of:
- Replacing missing nutrients
- Treating symptoms as needed
- Treating any underlying medical condition
Michael Holick is an Endocrinologist in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Holick is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Malnutrition. His top areas of expertise are Vitamin D Deficiency, Malnutrition, Osteoporosis, Thyroidectomy, and Gastric Bypass.
Heather Keller practices in Waterloo, Canada. Ms. Keller is rated as an Elite expert by MediFind in the treatment of Malnutrition. Her top areas of expertise are Malnutrition, Dementia, Swallowing Difficulty, and Dehydration.
Maria Brandi practices in Florence, Italy. Brandi is rated as an Elite expert by MediFind in the treatment of Malnutrition. Their top areas of expertise are Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal Osteoporosis, Hypophosphatemia, Parathyroidectomy, and Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).
The outlook depends on the cause of the malnutrition. Most nutritional deficiencies can be corrected. However, if malnutrition is caused by a medical condition, that illness has to be treated in order to reverse the nutritional deficiency.
If untreated, malnutrition can lead to mental or physical disability, illness, and possibly death.
Talk to your provider about the risk of malnutrition. Treatment is necessary if you or your child have any changes in the body's ability to function. Contact your provider if these symptoms develop:
- Fainting
- Lack of menstruation
- Lack of growth in children
- Rapid hair loss
Eating a well-balanced diet helps to prevent most forms of malnutrition.
Summary: The investigators hypothesize that single oral high dose supplementation with vitamin A will reduce the incidence of moderate-severe chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) compared with placebo.
Summary: This study has four objectives: 1) to provide investigators the opportunity to study bone specimens from patients with various skeletal diseases; 2) to treat patients with skeletal diseases at the NIH; 3) to expose NIH trainees to certain skeletal diseases; and 4) to gain more knowledge about skeletal diseases and stimulate further study of bone biology. Anyone with a disease that affects the skel...
Published Date: April 01, 2025
Published By: Linda J. Vorvick, MD, Clinical Professor Emeritus, Department of Family Medicine, UW Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
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