Malnutrition is a condition in the body mostly among the young children. It is a condition resulting from eating food where one or more nutrient is too much or not enough, and the diet later causes health problems to the body. The diet may involve minerals, vitamins, proteins, calories, and carbohydrates. It is a result of the body not getting enough nutrients.  Some of the cause of malnutrition includes diseases, digestive conditions, and poor diet

Signs and symptoms

Every condition in the body has a sign and symptoms.  The most common sign of malnutrition is weight loss. Within a short time, the suffering person will have lost a couple of kilograms. In children, the weight loss can lead to failure of growth at the standard rate including changes in behavior. Another sign is lack of appetite. This is because the body has been dehydrated; therefore, the craving goes down. Being sick is also another sign of malnutrition. A person suffering from malnutrition will become sick more often from simple diseases. This is because the body is weak; therefore, it cannot fight the diseases attacking the body. Symptoms of the condition include being always tired and lack of strength and energy when performing simple tasks.

Diagnosis

In most cases, malnutrition is typically diagnosed based on specific factors like precipitating cause and duration. Several factors are considered by doctors to establish whether a person is malnourished or is at risk. When it comes to adult’s body mass index is taken. Next, write down the percentage of all the unplanned loss of weight and note down the score. The doctor is supposed to identify any physical or mental health condition and come up with a score. After this, all the scores in all the steps and calculate the overall score. The last step involves using guidelines to come up with a care plan. If the score is more than two, the person is at high risk.

Treatment

Malnutrition treatment depends on the cause and the extent to which the patients are malnourished. The patient may either be treated in a care home or at home by a nurse or dietitian. Treatment will involve dietary changes like eating food that is rich with nutrients and energy. A lot of fruits are also supposed to be included in every diet. Supporting families to manage some of the factors affecting children nutritional intake. The doctors are even supposed to include mineral and vitamin supplement to help boost the body. There is also the treatment of any other medical condition that may cause malnutrition. When it comes to self-care, mothers are supposed to breastfeed children for close to three years fully. In treatment, the main aim is to replace all the lost nutrient in the body.

Complications

When malnutrition is not treated, the patient can have severe complications.  That’s why we need to be very careful on a diet we feed on each day. While in hospitals patients suffering from malnutrition are in danger of facing increased complication like slow recovery, infections, death risk and infections at surgical rooms. Alarmingly, almost half of those patients who fall in hospitals are mostly malnourished. This is a warning that we need to take care of our bodies. People are supposed to eat well and prioritize hospital guidance and nutrition.

 
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