Contents:
- Medical Video: Nutrition Tips : Effects of Poor Diet in Children
- What are the signs of an undernourished adult?
- Why can adults experience malnutrition?
- How to deal with malnutrition in adults
Medical Video: Nutrition Tips : Effects of Poor Diet in Children
Poor nutrition is a condition when a person does not get enough nutrients according to their needs. So, how to overcome it? Where can you also know if people who are experiencing experience malnutrition? See the explanation below.
What are the signs of an undernourished adult?
- Lack of appetite or no interest in food
- Fatigue
- Thin
- Easily offended
- Difficult to concentrate
- Always feeling cold
- Fat loss, muscle mass (shrinking body weight)
- Get sick more often and heal longer
- Depression
- Continuous fatigue
In more severe conditions, breathing becomes congested, pale face, very dry skin, dry hair, and easily falls out
Why can adults experience malnutrition?
There are many things that can cause a person to experience malnutrition. Among others are:
- Too little food intake over a long period of time.
- There are psychological disorders that affect eating ability (eg anorexia nervosa).
- There are health problems, such as digestive problems that can affect eating ability or due to side effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients.
How to deal with malnutrition in adults
Basically, handling malnutrition will vary from one person to another. This all depends on the severity of the experience, and comorbidities (complications) that also arise.
Nutritionists will usually provide a very specific treatment plan for each person.
Changes in diet are the most important interventions or solutions provided by nutritionists. If you are malnourished, you will be asked to increase the amount of nutritious food in your diet, or use certain supplements.
There are several dietary changes that you should pay attention to:
- Eating a complete diet contains calories and is nutritious, not just high in calories.
- Eat a little but often.
- Eat snacks between big meals.
- Drink beverages that also contain calories.
If your condition is indeed unable to meet nutritional needs orally (by mouth), you may be given:
- Small tube as a channel to enter nutrients directly into the digestive system. This is also called the process nasogastric tube. This tube can be installed in the stomach or intestine.
- Infusion to provide nutrients and fluids directly into blood vessels.
After being given a special program, it will usually be done monitoring again to see the progress of body weight and eating ability. Regular monitoring can help ensure that your calorie intake and nutrients are correct or not.
