Causes of Undernutrition
Cause | Examples |
|---|---|
Lack of access to food | Inability to obtain food (for example, due to lack of transportation or physical impairment) Poverty War, drought, flooding, and famine |
Conditions that restrict the amount or type of food eaten | Fad diets Some vegan or vegetarian diets Voluntary restriction of calories (as for a strict reducing diet or a fast) |
Conditions that interfere with the intake, metabolism, or absorption of nutrients | Impaired mental function, such as dementia Inflammatory bowel disorders (such as Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis) Sometimes surgery to promote weight loss (bariatric surgery) |
Medications that interfere with the consumption, metabolism, or absorption of nutrients | Some medications used to treat anxiety, high blood pressure, heart failure, an underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism), asthma, or cancer |
Conditions that greatly increase the need for calories | Demanding exercise, such as rehabilitation or training for athletic competition Injury, such as burns High fever Infections that are widespread or severe Growth and development in infants, children, and adolescents An overactive thyroid gland (hyperthyroidism) Pregnancy and breastfeeding Surgery |