Child
Wasting is the most immediate, visible and life-threatening form of malnutrition. It results from the failure to prevent malnutrition among the most vulnerable children. Children with wasting are too thin and their immune systems are weak, leaving them vulnerable to developmental delays, disease and death.
Undernutrition manifests in four broad forms: wasting, stunting, underweight, and micronutrient deficiencies. Wasting is defined as low weight-for-height. It often indicates recent and severe weight loss, although it can also persist for a long time.
Diarrhoea, besides the danger of hyponatraemia, hypokalaemia, acceleration of the wasting process may lead to hypovolaemic shock. Other types of circulatory disturbance are caused by very low serum albumin values, by the overloading of the wasted heart by fluid, by hight salt or calorie intake.
Malnutrition can lead to marasmus, which is a severe form of malnutrition. Marasmus is a deficiency of protein and overall energy intake. A person with marasmus will have very little muscle or fat on their body.
Malnourished children, particularly those with severe acute malnutrition, have a higher risk of death from common childhood illness such as diarrhoea, pneumonia, and malaria.
Severe acute malnutrition is defined in these guidelines as the presence of oedema of both feet or severe wasting (weight-for-height/length <-3SD or mid-upper arm circumference < 115 mm). No distinction is made between the clinical conditions of kwashiorkor or severe wasting because their treatment is similar.
Children with severe acute malnutrition are nearly 12 times more likely to die than healthy children [3]. Globally, it is estimated that around 1 to 2 million children die every year due to severe acute malnutrition.
Researchers found that eating too much or too little of certain foods and nutrients can raise the risk of dying of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. These results suggest ways to change eating habits that may help improve health.
Marasmus and kwashiorkor are common terms historically used to differentiate between types of SAM. Marasmus refers to children who are very thin for their height (that is, they meet the WHZ or MUAC cutoff) but do not have bilateral pitting edema; kwashiorkor refers to edematous malnutrition.
It is a barrier to the complete physical and mental development of children. Undernutrition can manifest as stunting, wasting, and underweight. If undernutrition occurs during pregnancy, or before two years of age, it may result in permanent problems with physical and mental development.
If undernutrition is not treated – particularly during the critical first 1,000 days of life when development occurs faster than at any age – they will experience stunted growth. Stunting is a chronic condition that inhibits a child's mental and physical development.
Why do malnourished children have big bellies? Many types of malnutrition cause a build-up of fluid in a child's body, often in their abdomen, which gives them a swollen, bloated appearance.
Starvation is an acute severe form of primary PEU. Marasmus (also called the dry form of PEU) causes weight loss and depletion of fat and muscle. In countries with high rates of food insecurity, marasmus is the most common form of PEU in children.
Undernutrition. There are 4 broad sub-forms of undernutrition: wasting, stunting, underweight, and deficiencies in vitamins and minerals. Undernutrition makes children in particular much more vulnerable to disease and death. Low weight-for-height is known as wasting.
When noticing signs of severe malnutrition, parents need to immediately take the child to the hospital for treatment. If this situation is prolonged, the child will appear complications such as: hypoglycemia, electrolyte disturbances, brain damage, even death due to infection.
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death.
Acute malnutrition is the result of a relatively short period of inadequate nutrition, which leads to wasting and, if severe, may also lead to oedema. Chronic malnutrition is the result of prolonged episodes of inadequate nutrition and leads to stunting.
All organs are affected by anorexia nervosa (AN) and starvation, some even resulting in anorexia organ damage. Severe malnutrition causes electrolyte disturbances and ultimately multi-organ failure.
Estimates indicate that starving people become weak in 30 to 50 days and die in 43 to 70 days. Individual factors including sex, age, starting weight, and water intake all play a role in how long someone can live without food. The body works to fight starvation by producing glucose and breaking down fatty tissue.
"You're consuming your own muscle, including the heart muscle." In the late stages of starvation, people can experience hallucinations, convulsions and disruptions in heart rhythm. Finally, the heart stops.
Severe acute malnutrition complications (i.e., severe diarrhea, hypoglycemia, hypothermia, pneumonia, urinary tract infection, sepsis, etc.) require hospitalization until children are ready to continue management at home [5].
Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM)
Severe acute malnutrition is defined by very low weight-for-height/length (Z- score below -3 SD of the median WHO child growth standards), or a mid-upper arm circumference < 115 mm, or by the presence of nutritional oedema. Severe Acute Malnutrition is both a medical and social disorder.