Malnutrition News and Research

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Malnutrition is a condition which occurs when there is a deficiency of certain vital nutrients in a person’s diet. The deficiency fails to meet the demands of the body leading to effects on the growth, physical health, mood, behaviour and other functions of the body. Malnutrition commonly affects children and the elderly.

Living conditions, sanitation and community organization play a key role in child malnutrition

Giving poor families land on which to grow crops has been shown to improve child nutrition. New research also shows that giving families non-agricultural land and better housing also is beneficial for children's growth and nutrition.

2 May 2011

UTHealth's education program helps nurses to gain extra skills in geriatric care

Houston nurse Sandra Thornton has 20 years of experience as a registered nurse. However, much of those years have not included learning about the special needs of geriatric patients.

28 Apr 2011

Calls for improvement of hospital food by Australian Medical Association

According to the Australian Medical Association (AMA) the standards of meals must improve in public hospitals in South Australia or more patients will be discharged in a malnourished state. It says nutrition is being addressed but the overall standard of meals is not high enough. They added that for elderly patients there are simple obstacles such as hard-to-open food packaging.

28 Apr 2011

Study shows possibility of women living with AIDS to breastfeed with lower risk

In low-income countries, 1.4 million women are living with the Aids virus. If no prevention measures are taken, the risk for future mothers of transmitting HIV to their child in utero, during delivery or when breastfeeding is 35%.

20 Apr 2011

Study provides new insights into tuberculosis behavior

Patience may be a virtue in a person, but in an infectious disease, it is insidious. Witness tuberculosis, which can lie dormant in a human host for decades before bursting forth into infection. TB's stealthy nature has made it difficult to decipher how it spreads, seriously hampering efforts to control it. The World Health Organization estimates that a third of the people on Earth are infected.

12 Apr 2011

Living human taste cells maintained in culture for seven months

Following years of futile attempts, new research from the Monell Center demonstrates that living human taste cells can be maintained in culture for at least seven months. The findings provide scientists with a valuable tool to learn about the human sense of taste and how it functions in health and disease.

7 Apr 2011

Sodexo hosts global program to combat hunger and malnutrition

Under Michel Landel's initiative, Chief Executive Officer of Sodexo, the 380,000 Sodexo employees across the globe are invited to join forces this month for the annual Sodexo "Servathon".

1 Apr 2011

Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine create Texas Children's Center for Global Health

Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) today announced the creation of the Texas Children's Center for Global Health and the appointment of renowned physician-scientist Dr. Russell E. Ware as director.

31 Mar 2011

Eating disorders - hitting early and hard

Children as young as seven have been admitted to hospitals for eating disorders. A peak support group has reported a doubling of calls about children under the age of 12 in the past decade. Being hit so early with these disorders also means malnutrition leading to retarded growth, osteoporosis, infertility and changes in brain structure say experts.

30 Mar 2011

Economist articles examine agriculture, nutrition issues

In an article examining the relationship between health and agriculture, the Economist writes that while agricultural growth is "no magic solution" to helping people gain access to nutritious foods, "farming ought to be especially good for nutrition."

29 Mar 2011

Inflammatory bowel disease in children - Delays in diagnosis common

Once a medical rarity in children, inflammatory bowel disease today is increasingly common in kids, but many of them may not be diagnosed in a timely manner, according to experts from the Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

28 Mar 2011

Study finds that 25% of health messages in school text books lack scientific evidence

Most school text books contain messages about health, but 24.6% of these are not based on any scientific evidence, according to a study by the Knowledge Management Unit at Baza Hospital (Granada), published in the journal BMC Public Health.

25 Mar 2011

U.S., World Bank sign MOU to enhance efforts to bring clean water, sanitation to world's poor

Marking World Water Day Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on behalf of the U.S. government, joined World Bank President Robert Zoellick in signing a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance collaborative efforts between the groups to improve water and sanitation conditions for the world's poor, the Epoch Times reports.

24 Mar 2011

Gastroenterologist directs new Crohn's and Colitis Program at UT Southwestern

Dorothy Stockstill was taking eight pills a day, and her severe abdominal pain and persistent diarrhea weren't improving. The Denton resident had seen multiple physicians throughout the Dallas area. Her attacks were so severe, she couldn't successfully travel from the front of a retail store to the restrooms in back.

23 Mar 2011

Researchers can grow and manipulate personalized gut microbes in laboratory

Each of us carries a unique collection of trillions of friendly microbes in our intestines that helps break down food our bodies otherwise couldn't digest.

22 Mar 2011

Hospital meals cost less than prison meals: Official UK report

In shocking news some British hospitals are reported to be spending as little as £1 a meal, compared with £2.10 for the average prison meal. The official figures show that the spending on hospital food has been slashed by up to two-thirds over the last five years. In some hospitals in England budgets have fallen by 62 per cent – with meals costing little more than £1.

21 Mar 2011

Nutrition experts gather at WHO headquarters to discuss ways to fight malnutrition

As world nutrition experts gather this week at the WHO headquarters to discuss ways to fight global malnutrition, VOA News examines the growing issues of "undernutrition and obesity, which affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide."

18 Mar 2011

USAID-India fund AIP project to increase food security, agricultural production

Could you live on $1.25 per day? In parts of India-specifically the less developed states of the Indo-Gangetic Plains-living on less than $1.25 per day per capita is a harsh reality. People in this region face problems of hunger, poverty and child malnutrition.

11 Mar 2011

House Foreign Affairs Committee hears testimony on security, human rights, health in Democratic Republic of Congo

At a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on Tuesday, Ben Affleck, the actor, writer and director, and "other witnesses urged the Obama administration to immediately appoint a special envoy" for the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is due for a national election in November, CNN reports.

10 Mar 2011