Malnutrition

Malnutrition occurs if nutritional needs are not met. Eating a variety of healthy foods each day will meet the nutritional needs of most people. Malnutrition can refer to under-nutrition or over-nutrition. Here it refers to under-nutrition.

Some people have special nutritional needs that make it important to choose foods more carefully to prevent malnutrition. These include people with:

• poor appetite (see Anorexia for further information)
• illness that increases nutritional needs such as AIDS or cancer
• eating disorders

Symptoms of malnutrition include:

• weight loss
• muscle wasting
• hair loss
• pale skin
• mental confusion

An Accredited Practising Dietitian can assess people who may be at risk of malnutrition and provide appropriate dietary advice to meet nutritional needs.

Eating a variety of foods will help to meet nutritional needs. However some dietary areas that may need special attention include:

• Energy
  Energy (kilojoules) will help to promote weight gain and health
• Protein
  Protein is needed to build and repair body cells
• Vitamins and minerals
  Vitamin and mineral needs must be met for body cells to utilise other nutrients, stay healthy and function properly

Ideas that can help to meet nutritional needs include:

• Eating small frequent meals and snacks to fit in more food throughout the day
• Having full-cream milk drinks between meals
• Adding more oil and margarine to food in cooking
• Adding skim milk powder to soups, stews and drinks
• Adding grated cheese to cooked foods
• Snacking on cheese and crackers, nuts and dried fruit during the day

An Accredited Practising Dietitian can provide expert nutrition and dietary advice to help meet nutritional needs.