See nutritional disorders.
The condition arising from an inadequate or unbalanced DIET. The causes may be a lack of one or more essential nutrients, or inadequate absorption from the intestinal tracts. A diet that is de?cient in CARBOHYDRATE usually contains inadequate PROTEIN, and this type of malnutrition occurs widely in Africa and Asia as a result of poverty, famine or war.
n. a condition in which there is an imbalance between the nutrients the body receives and the nutrients it requires. A deficiency (or undernutrition) results from a combination of a decreased dietary intake, a decreased uptake by the body (*malabsorption), an increase in bodily losses, and an increase in the body’s requirements. Overnutrition is the consequence of dietary excess and results in *obesity and other metabolic abnormalities, such as *diabetes and *hyperlipidaemia.