Diagnosis and Treatment of Malnutrition
Diagnosis
- Consider the patient’s food history and performs medical assessment, which includes measurements of weight, height and skin folds.
- Requested tests blood and urine tests (such as absorption of D-xylose or albumin), which indicate the degree of deficiency of vitamins, proteins and minerals.
- A very important laboratory data to determine if a patient has malnutrition is the value of blood proteins, such as albumin (the main protein that circulates in our bodies).
Prevention
Ensure that the diet include vitamins, proteins, lipids, minerals and carbohydrates in a balanced way, which can be supported by supplements and food supplements is essential that these measures are strengthened and closely monitored during infancy, pregnancy, lactation and aging. Continue reading
Causes and Symptoms of Malnutrition
Causes
- Poor feeding, especially during childhood, adolescence, pregnancy, lactation and aging, which is associated with poor selection of food, religion, preferences, disease, ignorance and low income.
- Strict dieting for long periods.
- Anorexia and bulimia.
- Cancer or AIDS.
- Infections.
- Chronic diarrhea.
- Defect absorption in the intestine causes the nutrients in food is not utilized, this condition can be caused by chronic diseases in digestive system, kidney, heart, lungs, pancreas and metabolism disorders.
- Alcoholism in advanced degree conducive to the neglect of food.
- Vegetarian diet because it does not provide all the nutrients the body needs. Continue reading
Malnutrition: Nutrient Deficiency
Nutrient deficiency is generally associated with poor diet with vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates and fats, changes in the process of intestinal absorption, chronic diarrhea and diseases such as cancer or AIDS. This condition usually develops in stages, because at first causes changes in the values ??of nutrients contained in blood, then, causes dysfunction of organs and tissues and, ultimately, generate physical symptoms with the risk of death.
Notably, there are periods of life which are more prone to malnutrition, such as childhood, adolescence, pregnancy, lactation and age, the first being that you can leave severe sequelae, for example, decreased IQ, impaired learning and memory retention, poor muscle development and frequent infections. The latter represents one of the leading causes of death, because the nutrient deficiencies alter immune barriers that protect against the attack of germs. Continue reading
The Nutritional Condition is Indispensable to Have a Healthy Pregnancy
The nutritional condition is indispensable to have a healthy pregnancy. If you plan to have a baby, should be well fed. Remember that there are good excesses or the deficiencies when it comes to food.
If the mother has an adequate physical condition, must rise up to 12 kilos during the pregnancy. When there is malnutrition, it is advisable to grow between 15 and 16 kilos. On the contrary, if you are obese, you can upload only 8 kilos and need to make a weight loss diet before pregnancy or diet plan during the nine months of gestation, the nutritionist recommends Claudia Angarita.
In the belly organs are forming, the body and the baby’s brain. To obtain the necessary nutrients, the mother should take folic acid, iron, vitamin A, vitamin E and essential fatty acids.
In addition, to assist with the growth of small protein requires more energy to climb. An average person consumes 1,500 calories per day during pregnancy should take extra 300-400, without implying that the mother eats for two.
The nutritionist ensures that the protein level handled by a pregnant woman with regard to a healthy person increases 0.5 grams per kilo. Dairy products provide calcium and vitamin E, but in pregnant women with overweight is recommended intake of low fat milk. Eat a week or twice a bean, lentil and chickpea, excellent sources of protein. It is also suggested fresh fish, like pork.
Two servings of fruit a day, not counting juice, provide the body with vitamin A and folic acid. The vegetables of all colors are ideal because they provide plenty of vitamins. Two servings daily are adequate, especially the green, because they are important to prevent spin biffed in children, explains nutritionist Claudia Angarita.
Malnutrition is a Major Cause of Morbidity and Mortality for Children
The pediatric ward of our first world this is a disease that occupy the small print in books and also a marginal place in the minds of pediatricians. We are concerned over the health problem of childhood obesity, its origin in the forms of life and nutrition of children and its implications for health. But we can not forget that the opposite case, malnutrition is a major cause of morbidity and mortality for children of more than half the world. One of the most striking clinical and severe, that images of the media posted to geographic locations of permanent famine and social conflict, as some in Africa, have been delivered to almost indifferent gaze of the Western society, is Kwashiorkor .
Kwashiorkor, meaning “child removed”, ie the child has stopped breastfeeding. It is a clinical syndrome resulting from a severe deficiency of high biological value proteins with inadequate calorie intake. You can begin to be evident from weaning, sometimes even earlier if maternal undernutrition is extreme, up to five years of age. Early clinical data of malnutrition are lethargy, apathy and irritability. Once late in the process, there is an inadequate growth, lack of energy, loss of muscle tissue, edema is most evident in the limbs and abdomen, and increased susceptibility to infections, leading to a high mortality rate diseases that are usually benign in other children with adequate nutrition and measles. Dermatitis is common and often scaly skin pigmentation and appendages. The black children have a sparse hair, slightly elastic, with a red-striped color or gray (hipocromotriquia). This coloration is such that they also call “red children.”
Treatment without leave
Another remarkable aspect is the therapeutic compliance during the holidays, since it is essential that kidney patients in any event do not forget to take medication every day. Over lunch or dinner seafood, alcohol and too much salt can cause attacks of arthritis, hypertensive crisis or gout in renal patients, who routinely and have elevated uric acid and have high blood pressure. According to the specialist General Hospital of Segovia, the solution is timely information to patients and proper supervision by those bodies.
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