Malnutrition Flashcards
malnutrition
refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and / or nutrients
ratio
descriptive → can describe the male-to-female ratio of participants in a study;
analytic → can be calculated for occurrence of illness, injury or death between two groups
rate
a measure of the frequency with which an event occurs in a defined population over a specified period of time
prevalence
number of existing cases of a health problem at a specific time
incidence
reflects the number of new cases of a given medical condition in a population within a specified period of time
count
small amount of cases (e.g. Ebola, anthrax)
stunting
= low height for age
- irreversible beyond the first 1000 days of life
- impacting cognitive and physical development
- vicious cycle (mother and baby)
- lowers IQ scores
- influences later income and economy overall
hidden hunger
lack of micronutrients (vitamin B, A, calcium, folic acid, iodine, iron, zinc)
wasting
= too thin
- reversible by improving health care and nutrition intake
environmental determinants of malnutrition
- household income
- social status
- lack of nutrition awareness / knowledge
- lack of hygiene → infections
- political stability of a country
- climate shocks
- the mother’s education
- rural vs urban setting
- mental health - anorexia nervosa
- drought / flood
food insecurity
when people lack secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food
kwashiorkor
severe malnutrition
anemia
when the blood lacks enough red blood cells to carry oxygen efficiently around the body (iron / vitamin B12 deficiency)
vitamin A deficiency
can cause vision loss
iodine deficiency
leading case of preventable brain damage in children
food swamp
an urban environment with few grocery stores but several non-nutritious food options such as corner stores or fast-food restaurants
food desert
an area that has limited access to food that is plentiful, affordable, ornutritious
overweight
= imbalance in energy surplus and deficit; increase in calory intake and / or lower activity level
- caused by:
- low quality, processed food
- genetics (metabolism)
- energy intake imbalance
consequences of over nourishment
- type 2 diabetes
- colon and breast cancer
- cardiovascular disease
change in malnutrition rates over time
prevalence of hunger has fallen globally 13.4% → 8.8% in 17 years, however, particular short-term events which impact food supplies can disrupt long-term trends