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Summary
Food provides the energy and nutrients you need to be healthy. If you don't get enough nutrients -- including proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals - you may suffer from malnutrition.
Causes of malnutrition include:
- Lack of specific nutrients in your diet. Even the lack of one vitamin can lead to malnutrition.
- An unbalanced diet
- Certain medical problems, such as malabsorption syndromes and cancers
Symptoms may include fatigue, dizziness, and weight loss. Or, you may have no symptoms. To diagnose the cause of the problem, your doctor may do blood tests and a nutritional assessment. Treatment may include replacing the missing nutrients and treating the underlying cause.
Diagnosis and Tests
- Albumin Test (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
- Malnutrition Tests (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
- Prealbumin Test (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
Prevention and Risk Factors
- Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (American Association for Clinical Chemistry)
Related Issues
- Iodine Deficiency (American Thyroid Association) Also in Spanish
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Nutrition in Cancer Care (PDQ)
(National Cancer Institute)
Also in Spanish
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Pernicious Anemia (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
- Vitamin Deficiency Anemia (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
Clinical Trials
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ClinicalTrials.gov: Malnutrition (National Institutes of Health)
Journal ArticlesReferences and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
Find an Expert
Children
- Failure to Thrive (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
Teenagers
- Hunger and Malnutrition (Nemours Foundation)
Seniors
- Preventing Malnutrition in Older Adults (American Academy of Family Physicians)
- Senior Health: How to Prevent and Detect Malnutrition (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
