Dietary Treatment for Malnutrition

Dietary Treatment for Malnutrition
Introduction:
Malnutrition is a very pathetic condition that slowly swallows your healthy life, dragging you toward death. It is a condition characterized by under-nutrition and over-nutrition. In malnutrition our body doesn’t get enough nutrients from the diet or there is the consumption of over-doses of certain nutrients. Malnutrition is mostly treated with dietary interventions recommended or suggested by world’s food guides or nutritionists. The features that are to be adopted to eradicate this evil are prevent and treat dehydration, treat low blood sugar level, control low body temperature, prevent infection, correct electrolyte imbalances and cope-over micro-nutrient deficiencies etc. This article will discuss the all possible measures and dietary interventions to combat malnutrition.
Treatment:
Following points should be taken into consideration to treat the condition of malnutrition. These include:
Food:
It is the best way to treat the malnourished condition. Normally the fortified foods are developed to achieve the aim of treatment for this disease. Mostly the parameters that should be adopted are:
Take high protein diet:
In the condition of under-nutrition that is mostly characterized by the diseases of kawashiorkor and marasmus, the protein deficiency occurs or the protein is used for the energy purpose. In such conditions, the high protein diet should be given to the patients so that they may recover the condition. The high quality protein must be recommended that mainly comes from the animal sources that are meat, fish and dairy etc. lentils or legumes are also a rich source of protein.
Balanced diet should be consumed:
it has been thought that the malnutrition usually occurs due to the intake of diet that is not a balanced one. The diet may be lacking some nutrients or is enriched with some specific ones. You should consume only that portion from each food group that is in accordance with the nutrient ratio. As the carbohydrate intake shouldn’t exceed 65%, protein should be in the range of 15 to 20% and the fats consumption must be within 25 to 35%.
Consume fortified foods:
fortification is mostly done in the staple food. So, to cope over the micro-nutrient deficiency take the food fortified with essential minerals such as zinc, folate, iron or with many B-vitamins such as ribo-flavin, thiamin, niacin and vitamin B-12.
Take supplements of specific micro-nutrients:
You can also make up your micro-nutrient or vitamin deficiencies by consuming the supplements in your daily routine. In the market many multivitamin tablets and mineral containing medicines are available. The most important out of them are the supplements of vitamin A,C and D, folate and iron etc.
Preventing dehydration:
Water as such don’t provide any calorie or energy but it is important for our enzymes to keep functioning properly. Enzymes are as essential for our life to thrive as our breathing to keep us alive. Moreover, water is the source of many nutrients and salt that may be deficient in the condition of malnutrition. To attain rehydration mostly, oral rehydration solutions are preferred e.g ORS.
Prevent to get infection:
when a person gets any infection, its body becomes weakened and deficient of many important nutrients e.g in case of diarrhea when the nutrients are lost with the loose stool to the outside of the body and the absorption becomes poor. It also leads to malnutrition. So, try to get at minimum infection to prevent the malnourished conditions. The infection can be prevented by:
Sanitation and hygiene should be promoted:
The infection spreads from the poor status of sanitation and hygiene. So to prevent malnourishment, confirm the good and healthy status of hygiene and sanitation so that you may not get infection.
Prevent low blood sugar:
Low blood sugar level may leave you un-conscious and at many lethal risks. So, you must attain normal sugar level in blood to keep you healthy and prevent malnutrition. Low sugar level is known as hypoglycemia can be treated with a mixture of sugar and water.
Hypothermia:
Hypothermia can occur. To prevent or treat this, the child’s head is kept covered with a covering or with a direct skin-skin contact with father or mother. Warming methods are more useful generally at night.
Conclusion:
So, in the light of above discussion the malnutrition can be prevented and controlled through proper and balanced diet and some other parallel parameters of hygiene and sanitation.