Malnutrition

Introduction

Malnutrition is generally considered both over and underweight of a person. This is due to the inappropriate food habits of a person since childhood. This also includes the genetic aspects of the person. Repeated infection is also a major cause of this public health issue. Inadequate immunity supplements at the very age of the children can lead to malnutrition in children. This has an overall impact on society. Malnutrition negatively impacts children in developing the brain, critical thinking and other body parts. Consequently, the resource aspect of a human being is restrained in the children and they are unable to be productive in their adulthood.

Discussion

Malnutrition meaning

It is a condition when the human body is deprived of required nutritious elements such as micronutrients, vitamins and other supplementary foods that are essential for the overall growth of a person. The deficiency of these elements can restrict the growth of healthy tissues of the body and the adequate functioning of body organs. This health issue has two parts, one is overnutrition and another is undernutrition. Undernutrition is easily understandable due to knowing facts that lack nutrition in the food elements that are consumed by the people. Overnutrition, on the other hand, is different and complex to understand. Overnutrition can also cause malnutrition is quite interesting to know. Consumption of more than the required nutrient elements can increase the weight of the person. This can influence the inappropriate growth of some specific body parts that are not supposed to grow. Increasing body fat due to overconsumption of lipid products such as animal and vegetable fat can increase the fat of some specific part. For example, increasing chest fat can impact the breathing comfortability of the person by putting an extra layer of fat over the lungs. Therefore, nutrition is a two-edged sword that must be balanced to achieve desirable health prospects

Malnutrition definition

Malnutrition can be defined as too much or too little of certain nutrients intake by an average human being. It can lead to some severe issues such as obesity, stunting, eye problems, heart disease and breathing problems. It impacted billions of people worldwide depending on food habits, lifestyles and health environments. Definition of overnutrition says that over intaking of a certain protein, carbohydrate, fat and calories can increase the health issue of the person by increasing the health-related problems caused by overweight and obesity. On the other hand, undernutrition can be defined as the food habit that increases health issues by not taking adequate protein supplements, fat, calories and carbohydrates. This decreases the weight of the person. Consequently, the growth of some vital body parts is restricted and the efficiency of the person decreases. This health issue has social and economical aspects as well. Lower or overgrowth of some specific body part can negatively impact the required human resource development. As a result, productive and economic and other social outcomes are also restricted from their full potential. Several countries have scaled their malnutrition aspects based on their economic and social setup and also define malnutrition separately. Therefore, no universal definition of malnutrition is possible to observe.

What is malnutrition?

Malnutrition is the phenomenon when a person gets over or lowers the required nutrition to live a healthy life. It has many signs which can be separated based on under and over nutrition. The signs of undernutrition are weight loss, loss of body mass, hollow cheeks and swollen stomach. Along with this, it can also cause health issues such as sunken eyes, fatigue, depression, difficulties in concentrating dry hair and skin. A signature health issue, Kwashiorkor, happens due to a severe deficiency of protein, which causes fluid retention and protruding abdomen is due to undernourishment of the person. Apart from that, conditions like marasmus due to calories deficiencies is also the consequence of undernourishment. This marasmus is a serious health concern where people end up wasting significant fat and muscle loss. Undernutrition can also be caused by the deficiency of micronutrients. These symptoms include; dry eyes, night blindness due to deficiency of vitamin A, deficiency of zinc can be the cause of loss of appetite, stunted growth and delayed healing injuries. Overnutrition, as another aspect of malnutrition, includes signs and symptoms such as for overweight and obesity. Various researches depicted that overweight or obese can have low blood levels vitamins and minerals compared to normal people. In a study, it has been found that out of 285 obese adolescents 2-10% is deficient in vitamin A and E in the blood than the normal weight participant. This is due to the overconsumption of fast foods that are high in calories and fat. Malnutrition also has some long term effects on human health such as stunted growth, overweight, lower brain development. It has also a negative impact on human metabolism developing chronic disease in the later years of life.

Conclusion

Malnutrition has long-term negative impacts on human health; it restrains the overall growth of the human brain. Restricting adequate brain functioning reduces the productivity of the person. Obesity, as a case of malnutrition, has a social impact as well.  It decreases the confidence of a person and lowers the academic and working performance in educational and professional organisations. Consequently, the majority of world communities are investing more financial resources to eradicate malnutrition. Therefore, this health issue off the world must be catered with some appropriate measures to reduce its impacts on the general people.