Malnutrition in this form is mainly caused by a lack of essential nutrients. The patient's weight is less than 60% of a normal person's weight. The body is emaciated, skin covered with bones due to the loss of the entire layer of fat under the skin of the abdomen, buttocks, limbs, and cheeks, and often has manifestations of digestive disorders: loose stools, raw stools. At this level, they may have less appetite or eat less, become moody, less mobile, and unstable mood. Muscles influence motor development.

For malnourished people, patients should eat many meals a day, each meal a little to ensure the necessary amount of food for the body, and at the same time must provide higher energy than usual. The diet should be balanced between the groups of substances. Malnutrition requires an increase in protein intake beyond normal requirements to quickly restore nutritional status. Grease provides the patient with twice as much energy as starch and protein. Therefore, in the diet for malnourished people, you should increase the amount of fat.

The ability to absorb nutrients is poor, so it is easy to get gastrointestinal diseases or after a severe illness, the patient feels no appetite and does not want to eat despite being provided with nutritious food. Prolonged vomiting or diarrhea depletes nutrients. Ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease reduces the ability to tolerate nutrients from food. Patients with peptic ulcer disease or liver and biliary diseases often face indigestion, loss of appetite, and eventually malnutrition.

Infectious diseases in the digestive tract, or the use of antibiotics that cause an imbalance between the number of beneficial bacteria and harmful bacteria in the intestinal tract also reduces absorption. A deficiency of essential nutrients, most commonly a deficiency of protein, vitamins, and minerals. The consequence of the body not getting enough nutrients is a decline in the functioning of the organs. This is especially important in children, especially at the time when children have high nutritional needs from 6-24 months of age.

According to research on nails and hair, there is a major amount of protein, so when nails and hair experience signs of brittleness, there is a large nutritional deficiency. In addition, when the body lacks nutrients, it also affects muscles, bones, and skin,… The most recognizable symptom is hair and nails. Nutrition-related hair loss can be caused by malnutrition or malabsorption resulting in a calorie deficit or a deficiency of individual components such as proteins, minerals, vitamins, and essential fatty acids. Poor absorption of dietary fat is the exact cause of acquired hair loss in malnourished people.

Omega 6 is one of the essential fatty acids in the body to fight the water loss barrier. If you do not get enough Omega 6, your skin is prone to dryness and dehydration, besides symptoms of itching, redness, cracking, and dry, broken, and falling hair. This symptom of undernutrition in adults often occurs in patients who are on a diet, and there is a sudden decrease in fat intake.

Signs of malnutrition are many small or large wounds and slow recovery. One of the main causes of that condition is zinc deficiency. Zinc is found in many diets such as beef, chicken, pumpkin, mushrooms, cashews, and oysters,... As a result, you are very susceptible to allergies and skin diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to adhere to a reasonable diet and supplement poor quality in daily meals.

In addition to zinc, vitamin C deficiency is one of the leading causes of slow wound healing and bleeding gums. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain a diet rich in green vegetables and fruits to supplement the body with adequate nutrients. Malnutrition has very serious consequences. Because lack of nutrition leads to unpredictable complications such as the impaired function of the cardiovascular system, endocrine system, lungs, pancreas, cognitive function, etc. In case the body is injured, the wound will take a long time to heal, reduce the effect of the drug, and increase the risk of infection.

Malnutrition is common in people with depression, anxiety, dementia, and schizophrenia,... Poor mental health makes patients have no interest in eating and drinking, and loss of appetite leads to malnutrition. When the body is deficient in substances, it will not be able to resist the effects of the environment, work, and family. Since then, people who are malnourished often have a higher rate of depression. This cause can also be found in children. When the family forces them to eat too much, children are prone to fear and obsessions about food, which will gradually lead to anorexia and malnutrition.

With the above-listed symptoms of malnutrition, patients will soon recognize their disease status. Therefore, if there are many signs, the patient should be regularly monitored, weight checked, and anthropometric indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment. As a result, it helps to determine the right time to switch from artificial feeding support to normal eating, helping to reduce the burden of caring for severely malnourished patients. Also, limit the harmful effects of disease on health.