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NUTRITIONAL DISORDER IN CHILDREN

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     NUTRITIONAL DISORDER

Nutritional disorder is a pathological state due to a relative or absolute deficiency or excess of one or more essential nutrients; clinically manifested or detected only by biochemical, anthropometric or physiological tests. Nutritional disorder which is also known as malnutrition is a condition that results from eating a diet in which nutrients are either not enough or are too much such that the diet causes health problems (Young, 2012). It may involve calories, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins or minerals. Not enough nutrients is called undernutrition or undernourishment while too much is called overnutrition (Young, 2012). Malnutrition is often used specifically to refer to undernutrition where there is not enough calories, protein, or micronutrients. If undernutrition occurs during pregnancy, or before two years of age, it may result in permanent problems with physical and mental development in a child. When a child is exposed to extreme undernourishment, known as starvation, this may have symptoms that include: a short height, thin body, very poor energy levels, and swollen legs and abdomen in child. Children also often get infections and are frequently cold.  Undernutrition is an important determinant of maternal and child health, accounting for more than a third of child deaths and more than 10 percent of the total global disease burden according to previous studies (Black et al., 2008) The World Health Organization estimates that malnutrition accounts for 54 percent of child mortality worldwide, (Walker et al., 2008) about 1 million children (Jean, 2008). Another estimate also by WHO states that childhood underweight is the cause for about 35% of all deaths of children under the age of five years worldwide (FAO, 2008).   As underweight children are more vulnerable to almost all infectious diseases, the indirect disease burden of malnutrition is estimated to be an order of magnitude higher than the disease burden of the direct effects of malnutrition (FAO, 2008).  The combination of direct and indirect deaths from malnutrition caused by

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