Causes of Malnutrition

Abstract

Malnutrition is defined as deficiency or excess of nutrition consumption. It is can be undernutrition and overnutrition. Malnutrition contributed to more than third of child death. There is no single cause of malnutrition. The causes of malnutrition can be categorized as immediate, underlying, and basic. The immediate-level causes of malnutrition comprise inadequate dietary intake and disease conditions. The underlying-level causes include insufficient household food security, inadequate social and care environment and insufficient health service, and unhealthy environment. The basic-level causes of malnutrition consist climate variability and extremes, sociocultural, economic, and political context. Undernutrition is specifically caused by deficiency of energy, vitamin, and minerals. Overnutrition is specifically is caused by overconsumption of energy and micronutrients. The causes of overnutrition are not clearly put in many studies. Therefore, studies that focus on cause of overnutrition should be done by incorporating both developed and undeveloped countries.