Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics

Malnutrition or Nutritional Deficiency

Poor diet or lack of proper dietary intake leads to malnutrition or nutritional deficiency. In some cases it is the effect of excess or imbalances in energy intake. Therefore the term malnutrition covers 2 broad group of conditions- First is under-nutrition & the second one is Obesity or overweight. This condition may lead to several fatal or life threatening diseases if not controlled at the initial stage. Poor diet may lead to lack of vitamins & minerals which can lead kwashiorkor (due to lack of protein), Scurvy (lack of Vitamin C). According to the record of World Health Organization (WHO), 462 million people world-wide are malnourished, and underdeveloped due to poor diet affects 159 million children globally. This condition may complicate the disease like malaria, measles, pneumonia & diarrhoea. On the other hand obesity may lead to the risk of some non-communicable disease like heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. According to survey malnutrition affects approximately all countries with 1.9 billion overweight while 462 million underweight. A healthy balanced diet is recommended for prevention of malnutrition.