Malnutrition: is under or over-nutrition a greater public health concern?

With constant headlines telling us about soaring obesity rates, malnutrition, in the form of under-nutrition, may not be the first nutrition related concern which springs to mind. However, the NHS reports that one in three people admitted to hospitals and care homes are either malnourished or at risk of malnutrition in the UK. Therefore, the elderly living in institutional settings must be considered a high risk population as under-nutrition is often misunderstood and neglected. Screening is key to identify risk Malnutrition can be difficult to recognise and studies have found that reported international prevalence varies widely. This is partly attributed to variations in the methods and tools of measurement. Studies of malnutrition in care homes across Europe show rates varying between 2 and 74% which simply highlights the need for standardised methods of diagnosis.Nutritional screening is the quickest and least intrusive method of diagnosing those at risk and those with malnutrition. In 2003, the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) launched the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) which is intended to be administered on first contact to identify people who are, or are at risk of malnutrition in order to provide appropriate treatment or advice. A recent report into care homes found that those using a screening tool were more likely to have improved nutritional standards. The impact of malnutrition Malnutrition impairs the function ...
Source: The Nutrition Society - Category: Nutrition Authors: Source Type: news