Malnutrition

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Prevention and Risk Factors

Learn More

• Related Issues

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Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Teenagers
• Seniors
• Patient Handouts

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.

Start Here

• Hunger and Malnutrition (Nemours Foundation)
• Undernutrition (Merck & Co., Inc.) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• Albumin Blood Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• 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
• Nutrition in Cancer Care (PDQ) (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish
• Pernicious Anemia (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
• Vitamin Deficiency Anemia (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Malnutrition (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Preoperative Prealbumin Level as a Predictor of Outcomes in Patients...
• Article: Finding the genetic mechanisms of folate deficiency and neural tube...
• Article: Independent and Synergistic Associations of Biomarkers of Vitamin D Status...
• Malnutrition -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Also in Spanish

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)

Patient Handouts

• Beriberi (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Kwashiorkor (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Malnutrition (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Pellagra (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Pica (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Scurvy (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish