Basic Concepts in

Nutrition, Malnutrition
and Severe
Malnutrition
 Basic Definitions

Food – An edible substance which

contains one or more nutrients.
Nutrition – Process of ingestion,
digestion, absorption and
utilization of food.
Essential Nutrients – Nutrients
that cannot be synthesized by the
body need to be provided from
external sources
Micro-nutrients – Nutrients
required in small quantity. These
nutrients perform a number of vital
functions in the body.
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 Basic food groups

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 Basic Functions of food

Energy giving Protective

Fats, oils, oil seeds, vegetables
Cereals, roots and and fruits
tubers and sugar
Body
building
Pulses, meat, egg,
milk and milk
products

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 Basic Functions of food

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 Good Nutrition
A child’s survival, growth and development
depends upon the quality of care as well as child’s
health and nutritional status
Three conditions are essential for good nutrition

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 Type I and Type II Nutrients
• Over 40 nutrients are essential to health

• If even one is deficient then the person will

not be healthy and resist disease

• Many are ignored by practitioners and their

deficiency is not recognized

• They are divided into two groups in terms of

the response to a deficiency

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Prof Michael Golden
 Can you make out the difference??

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 Type I and Type II Nutrients
Type 1 Type 2
Functional nutrients Growth nutrients

• Has a body store • Has no body store

• Reduces in • No specific signs of
concentration with deficiency
deficiency • Growth failure the
• Specific signs of dominant feature
deficiency • Stable in breast milk
• Growth failure not a • Recovery from illnesses
feature delayed
• Variable
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in breastBasic
milk Nutrition for VCDC training 9
 Type I and Type II Nutrients

Type 1 Type 2
• iron • nitrogen
• iodine • essential amino acids
• copper
• calcium • potassium
• selenium • magnesium
• thiamin • phosphorus
• riboflavin • sulphur
• pyridoxine • zinc
• niacin
• folate • sodium
• cobalamin • chloride
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• vitamin A, D, E, K
 Type II Nutrients

• Deficiency of any one leads to the same response

• tissue repair and growth ceases

• No convalescence from illness

• negative balance for all type II nutrients

• anorexia (if diet is unbalanced in type II)

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Prof Michael Golden
 Who is likely to become malnourished?

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 When does Facts & Figures
Malnutrition occur

Under nutrition sets in early in • Nearly one-third (31%) of children < 6

life months are underweight
• This proportion is twice as high in
children who are very small (LBW) at
the time of birth.

Child under nutrition in the first • 36% of women are undernourished

months of life is largely due to • 52% of pregnant women are anemic
maternal under nutrition

Under nutrition continues to rise • By 23 months 46% of children are

in the first 2 yrs underweight

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 Consequences of Malnutrition

Consequences

Growth Decrease Physical

M Failure Ability Less Income
A
L
N Cognitive Delays School Drop
Development
U Out
T
R
I Risk of Repeated Death
Infection Infections
T
I
O
N MN in later Maternal MN LBW / IUGR
life
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 Different forms of malnutrition
• Underweight
– low weight for age (Composite indicator
measure of acute and chronic malnutrition)
• Stunting
– low height for age (chronic malnutrition)
• Wasting
– low weight for height (indicator of acute
malnutrition) - age independent (6-59 month) -
closely associated with death
• Micronutrient deficiencies
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 Severe Acute Malnutrition

• Severe Acute malnutrition is defined as the

presence of severe wasting
– Weight for height/length <-3SD and or
– MUAC <11.5 cm for children 6-59 months and
or
– Presence of bilateral oedema
• Children with severe acute malnutrition have
nine times higher risk of death

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