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What are the Causes of Malnutrition?

By Greer Hed
Updated: May 17, 2024
Views: 14,689
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Malnutrition is a medical condition that can lead to a number of nutrition disorders, such as anemia, beriberi, pellagra, and rickets. In extreme cases, malnutrition can lead to starvation and death. The causes of malnutrition are most often related to the insufficient consumption of nutrients, although malnutrition may also be caused by excessive or imbalanced nutrient consumption. Insufficient nutrient consumption is usually caused by conditions such as poverty, natural disasters, poor farming practices or lack of agricultural technology, or conflicts and wars. Malnutrition may also be caused by poor dietary choices, leading to the consumption of foods that do not have the proper nutrient balance for the continuing function of the human body.

Poverty is one of the most common causes of malnutrition. Malnutrition can exist even in areas of the world that have surpluses of food, due to the fact that a percentage of the population cannot afford foods with good nutritional values. This lack of purchasing power leads to hunger in underprivileged populations, which in turn leads to malnutrition.

Natural disasters, such as drought, flooding, hurricanes, or earthquakes, are also common causes of malnutrition. These natural disasters interfere with food production by killing or destroying crops. Uninformed farming practices, such as a failure to rotate crops, can cause soil erosion and infertility, which may also interfere with the production of food. Additionally, hunger may also be caused by a lack of access to modern agricultural technology, which allows for greater crop production. Lack of water purification technology is another one of the common causes of malnutrition, as unsafe water supplies can lead to infection and disease that cause people to become malnourished.

Wars and conflicts can also interfere with farmers' ability to produce sufficient food to feed a populace. This may be due to sudden labor shortages due to loss of life, or to the destruction of food crops. Conflicts may also lead to the destruction of utilities like electricity and water, which can also hamper food production and lead to widespread hunger.

In modern times, nutritionists point to a condition called over-nutrition as one of the primary causes of malnutrition in first world nations. Over-nutrition occurs when a person's diet includes sufficient calories, but does not include enough vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. This type of malnutrition most often leads to obesity, and related conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. Deriving a significant amount of calories from a single source, such as corn or potatoes, can lead to malnutrition, as can excessive consumption of empty calories and junk food. Another cause of over-nutrition is alcoholism, as alcohol is caloric and often causes the drinker to feel full, but does not contain many nutrients that the human body needs.

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Discussion Comments
By turquoise — On Jul 24, 2014

Of course, poverty and lack of access to food are the major causes of malnutrition across the world. In developed nations, poor diets are the major cause.

As far as I know, the other modern cause of malnutrition are eating disorders such as bulimia or anorexia. People who suffer from them are also malnourished. It's possible to die due to malnutrition caused by these disorders and it's a growing issue among teenage girls. Parents need to watch out for signs of eating disorders. A friend of mine had anorexia and had to be hospitalized for treatment.

By candyquilt — On Jul 23, 2014

@literally45-- Contrary to popular opinion, malnutrition does not mean starving. It simply means that the person is not getting all of the essential nutrients, vitamins and nutrients.

The best way to avoid malnutrition is to eat a balanced diet. I'm talking about a diet made up of whole grains, meat or beans, dairy, fruits and lots of vegetables. People who avoid one or more of these categories of food for a long period of time will develop malnutrition.

An alternative is taking vitamin and mineral supplements but I think it's much better to get these from real foods. Real, natural, fresh foods don't just have vitamins and minerals, but they also have supportive chemicals and amino acids that help the body absorb and use these vitamins and minerals properly.

By literally45 — On Jul 23, 2014

It's so crazy that we could be stuffing our faces with food all day and still have malnutrition. I can't believe it. What do we need to eat to prevent malnutrition then?

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