Malnutrition, Its Causes and Types of Malnutrition

Table of Contents

What is Malnutrition?

Dissecting the terminology to make it easy for us, Malnutrition = Mal + Nutrition where ‘Mal’ means poor/bad.
Now, in order to understand malnutrition, we need to know 1^st what nutrition is.
Nutrition refers to the intake, absorption and utilization of food in relation to our body’s dietary needs. So, when we add ‘Mal’ to ‘Nutrition’ it refers to the unbalance between foods taken by our body and the foods needed by our body.
This unbalance between the food intake and food needed may be: food intake > food required by the body or food intake < food required by the body. In both of these cases, we call it Malnutrition.
It (Malnutrition) is a condition in which there is poor quality/quantity of food intake, absorption and utilization
Malnutrition can be also considered as a broad term which encompasses both under-nutrition and over nutrition. However, in this note, we will be focusing more into under nutrition.

There is no single cause of malnutrition. Causes of malnutrition may range from individual and household level to country, regional and global level.
To note down, some major causes of Malnutrition are: poverty, food insecurity, poor maternal nutrition, poor sanitation and hygiene, low birth weight, lower rate of exclusive breast feeding, frequent illnesses, environmental enteropathy etc.
Clear understanding of causes of Malnutrition can be received from Unicef Causal framework for child malnutrition:

Basically, Malnutrition can be divided into two types: 1. Under nutrition 2. Over nutrition

Furthermore, under nutrition can also be classified into two types; 1. Growth Failure 2. Micro-nutrient malnutrition:

Growth Failure consists of:
- Acute Malnutrition (Wasting): Also commonly known as wasting, acute malnutrition refers to the rapid loss of weight or inability to gain weight by a child in comparison to his/her height. It can be calculated as weight-for-height of an individual. Based on clinical classification, acute malnutrition can be categorized into 3 forms viz. Marasmus, Kwashiorkor and Marasmic-Kwashiorkor while based on severity, it (acute malnutrition) can be classified as Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM), Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM)
- Chronic Malnutrition (Stunting): Also commonly known as stunting, chronic malnutrition refers to the malnutrition which occur due to inadequate nutrition intake for a long period of time. It can be calculated as height-for-weight of an individual.
- Acute and/or chronic Malnutrition (Underweight): This form of malnutrition is a result of either wasting or stunting or combined effect of both of them. It is commonly known as underweight and can be calculated as weight-for-age of a child.
Micronutrient malnutrition consists of:
- Vitamin A deficiency
- Iron Deficiency
- Iodine Deficiency etc.