Malnutrition

in this post we are going to talk about Malnutrition and everything you need to know about it

Food serves multiple functions in the most living organisms. For example, it provides materials that are metabolised to supply the energy required for absorption and translocation of nutrients, for the synthesis of cell materials, for movement, for excretion of waste productions and for all other activities of the organisms. Food also provides materials  which aid the formation of the structural components of the living cells.

Malnutrition is the physical condition resulting either from a faulty or inadequate diet (that is, a diet that does not supply normal quantities of all nutrients) or from a physical inability to absorb or metabolise  nutrients, owing to disease. Malnutrition may be result  to several conditions. first, sufficient and proper food may not be available because of inadequate agricultural processes, imperfect distribution  of food or certain social problems such as poverty or alcoholism. In these instances, the cause of malnutrition is most often  found to  be a diet that is deficient in calories or protein. Malnutrition may also result when certain  foods containing one or more of the essential vitamins or minerals are not included  in the diet. this commonly leads to specific nutritional  deficiency diseases. Poor eating habits and food preferences  may lead to malnutrition through  the habitual  consumption of certain foods to the exclusion  of others or of  large quantities  of non-nutritious foods. In certain  parts of Africa for example, the practice of weaning breast-fed infants to a diet  consisting  chiefly  of one kind of starchy food, such as cassava, may lead to protein deficiency (kwashiokor)