Menu

Malnourished children in Somalia in 2011.

Malnutrition is eating a diet which does not supply enough nutrients. There are two broad cateogries of malnutrition:

• The amount of food eaten is too little to provide for all the nutrients required. This is usually called undernourishment.
• Sometimes, the amount of food is enough, but the quality of the food is such that it does not provide all nutrients required for a healthy diet.
• A third category is called dehydration; it is caused by not getting enough liquid (usually water).

Sometimes, people need to lose weight, and eat according to a special diet. This is usually not called malnutrition.

Malnutrition is considered a more scientific and official term than starvation which has negative associations. Malnutrition is not, however, simply a matter of eating too little. Someone can be malnourished if they eat an unhealthy diet. This can be cured by eating a proper balanced diet.