Understanding Malnutrition and Macronutrients

• Malnutrition is a medical condition resulting from a lack of essential nutrients in the diet, often associated with starvation, which is the lack of total energy (calories).
• Malnutrition is the number one killer of children around the world, surpassing AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined, with most deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa due to endemic poverty and food scarcity.
• In the U.S., 11.8% of households (about 15 million) experienced food insecurity, primarily due to poverty rather than food scarcity.
• Nutrients are chemical building blocks necessary for life, growth, and repair, providing energy, which is the ability to do work and build complex muscles.

Macronutrients

• Macronutrients are nutrients needed in large amounts for health, including carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids (fats).
• A varied diet should include vegetables, oils, grains, meat, and dairy products.
• Many foods contain all three macronutrients in varying proportions, with animal products containing more protein per gram than carbohydrates, and most plant products containing more carbohydrates than protein.
• Macronutrients, large molecules, provide cells with building blocks for macromolecules and are broken down into smaller units through digestion.
• The body uses these subunits for energy or as building blocks.
• Carbohydrates break down into simple sugars for cell-surface markers and energy storage.
• Proteins break down into amino acids to assemble new proteins for various bodily functions.
• Fats break down into fatty acids and glycerol for building cell membranes.

Other Nutrients

• Nucleic acids are not macronutrients as they are needed in smaller amounts and break down into nucleotides for building DNA and RNA

Essential Nutrients

• Essential nutrients, which cells cannot synthesize, must be obtained through diet.
• There are 20 amino acids used to build proteins, nine of which are essential.
• Complete foods contain all necessary nutrients, like ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF).
• Malnutrition results from chronic undereating, especially up to age 2, starting around 6 months when breast milk alone is insufficient.
• This deprives children of nutrients for growth and development.

Digestion and Metabolism

• Digestion breaks down large food molecules into smaller pieces through chemical reactions, starting in the mouth and continuing throughout the digestive system.
• Metabolism involves chemical reactions that transform substances, including catabolic reactions (breaking down) and anabolic reactions (building up).
• Enzymes, proteins, catalyze (speed up) chemical reactions by binding to substrates at their active site, reducing activation energy.
• When enzymes lack necessary substrates for anabolic reactions, more catabolic reactions occur.
• Thin limbs, wrinkled muscles, swollen legs and feet, blonde/rust-colored hair, and a bloated abdomen are telltale signs of malnutrition.

Long Term Effects of Malnutrition

• Malnutrition in early childhood can lead to being stunted, fragile bones, decreased motor skills, impaired intellectual abilities, a weak immune system, and sensory, psychological, social, and behavioral issues.
• Micronutrients, including vitamins and minerals (Ca, Fe, K, Zn), are required in smaller amounts but are important for maintaining health and play structural and functional roles in the body, addressing 'hidden hunger.'

Minerals and Vitamins

• Minerals are inorganic elements needed for growth, reproduction, and tissue maintenance, while vitamins are organic molecules needed in small amounts for these processes.
• Minerals act as cofactors, inorganic micronutrients that activate enzymes (e.g., zinc, copper, iron).
• Vitamins act as coenzymes, small organic molecules required to activate enzymes.

Explore malnutrition as a medical condition stemming from nutrient deficiencies, its prevalence worldwide, and its impact on children. Learn about food insecurity in the U.S. and the significance of nutrients as building blocks for life. Discover macronutrients—carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids—essential for health.