pathoscribe

Written by Sanah Punjabi | Art by Angela Bascug

Often, the term malnutrition is used synonymously with ‘undernutrition,’ but the former encompasses a much wider range of conditions: malnutrition includes undernutrition, as well as overnutrition or obesity. Undertreated, this condition disproportionately impacts those in developing countries. In fact, in such countries, it is the direct cause of around 300,000 deaths annually and is indirectly responsible for nearly half the deaths of young children. Thus, poverty amplifies both the risks and effects of malnutrition and serves as one of its primary causes.

Globally, other causes of malnutrition, specifically undernutrition, include reduced dietary intake, often due to reductions or alterations in appetite-related hormones in the body, and increased energy usage. On the other hand, the main causes of overnutrition are overconsumption and insufficient expended energy. In 2022, approximately 290 million adults worldwide were underweight, while 2.5 billion were overweight.

Overall, malnutrition has a plethora of negative impacts on the body. This includes, but is not limited to, delayed cognitive development in children and diet-related noncommunicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers, and diabetes. As a matter of fact, as demonstrated in an experiment done by the United States National Library of Medicine, children who showed three or more signs of malnutrition from ages 3-11 had over a 15-point deficit in their IQ level.

Today, world governments are working to combat this condition by promoting the creation of reliable food systems for accessibility to healthy diets, providing nutrition-related education, and building supportive environments for nutrition at all ages. It is important to understand the prevalence of this condition and ways in which all of us can work to individually and actively protect ourselves from it.

Works Cited:

1. “Fact Sheets – Malnutrition.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malnutrition. Accessed 26 Feb. 2025. 
2. Liu, Jianghong, et al. “Malnutrition at Age 3 Years and Lower Cognitive Ability at Age 11 Years: Independence from Psychosocial Adversity.” Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, U.S. National Library of Medicine, June 2003, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3975917/.  
3. Müller, Olaf, and Michael Krawinkel. “Malnutrition and Health in Developing Countries.” CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association Journal = Journal de l’Association Medicale Canadienne, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2 Aug. 2005, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1180662/#:~:text=MALNUTRITION%2C%20WITH%20ITS%202%20CONSTITUENTS,and%20young%20children%20particularly%20affected.  
4. Saunders, John, and Trevor Smith. “Malnutrition: Causes and Consequences.” Clinical Medicine (London, England), U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dec. 2010, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4951875/#ref2.