A condition caused by not getting enough calories or the right amount of key nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, that are needed for health. Malnutrition may occur when there is a lack of nutrients in the diet or when the body cannot absorb nutrients from food. Cancer and cancer treatment may cause malnutrition.

A deficiency in the intake of energy and nutrients.

An imbalanced nutritional status resulting from insufficient intake of nutrients to meet normal physiological requirement.

Disorder of nutrition due to unbalanced or insufficient diet or to defective assimilation or utilization of nutrients.

Failure to eat or to properly absorb the nutrients needed for good health.

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.

Inadequate nutrition resulting from poor diet, malabsorption, or abnormal nutrient distribution.

Undernutrition is a form of malnutrition. (Malnutrition also includes overnutrition.) Undernutrition can result from inadequate ingestion of nutrients, malabsorption, impaired metabolism, loss of nutrients due to diarrhea, or increased nutritional requirements (as occurs in cancer or infection). Undernutrition progresses in stages; it...

Malnutrition is directly responsible for 300,000 deaths per year in children younger than 5 years in developing countries and contributes indirectly to more than half of all deaths in children worldwide. See the image below.

Malnutrition, physical condition resulting either from a faulty or inadequate diet (i.e., a diet that does not supply normal quantities of all nutrients) or from a physical inability to absorb or metabolize nutrients. Malnutrition may be the result of several conditions. First, sufficient and...