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AIKEN-AUGUSTA’S MOST SALUBRIOUS NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED IN 2006
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SEPTEMBER 18, 2015
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ow can someone be overfed and undernourished at the same time? It doesn’t seem possible, does it? Unfortunately, millions of people are proof that it’s not even improbable, let alone impossible. Mention the word malnutrition and we automatically conjure up mental images like the picture below: an impoverished child in Africa or Appalachia with a vacant stare, stick-like limbs and a distended belly, all classic signs of malnutrition. The surprising thing is that someone with a body like the one pictured in the lower right corner can also be suffering from malnutrition. If you’ve ever heard the term “empty calories,” you’re not far from understanding how an overweight person can also suffer from severe malnutrition. Yes, malnutrition doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of food. Like malfunction, malpractice, maladjusted, malcontent and other similar words, mal (as in malnutrition) signifies improper, inadequate or faulty. Many foods today are low-
oven doesn’t get much business any more. She’s so thin her friends say a strong wind could blow her away. Priority #1 isn’t nutrition; it’s not being hungry. The people in both of these examples — young mothers and children and the elderly — are quite likely to be healthcare consumers in the near future. That’s where healthcare providers — hospital dietitians in particular — can make a difference. One study1 found that fully one-third of hospitalized patients are malnourished upon admission. Those patients are at increased risk for readmission. Malnourished patients are twice as likely to develop pressure ulcers (“bed sores”) during their hospital stay.2 They have three times the risk of surgical site infections.3 And of patients who suffer a fall during their hospital stay, nearly half are malnourished.4 Are any of those statistics particularly significant to a hospital’s bottom line?
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cost, high-calorie, yet nutrient-poor. They can deliver plenty of sugar, sodium, saturated fats and other things we should not have in abundance. In some cases, the same food grandma enjoyed for its nutritive values isn’t as nutritious these days. Modern agriculture and food processing techniques have caused reductions in vitamins and minerals, including critically important micronutrients. Combine missing good stuff with abundant bad stuff, and you have the perfect recipe for being overfed and undernourished. In fact, scientists believe that processed foods and dietary habits play a huge role in two of the biggest and fastest-growing health problems today: obesity and diabetes. It turns out that some of the missing micronutrients are crucial to the body’s glucose metabolism and insulin
signaling pathways. The risk of type 2 diabetes is four times higher in obese patients, and the current hypothesis is that dietary deficiencies are one of the key contributing factors. One of the greatest enemies of your average nutrient is the process of refining foods, which can strip them of their best assets. “Enriched” is the food label word used to describe trying to put the genie back in the bottle. At its best, anything enriched is a poor and inadequate substitute for the original. Alas, refined foods are convenient; they seem inexpensive. Picture a couple of their most loyal users. One might be a single mom trying to make ends meet with several hungry mouths to feed. She doesn’t have time to cook. Fast food meals are quick and easy, and they’re cheap. Another is the stereotypical senior citizen. She’s on a fixed income. She’s cooking for one these days. Her
NOURISHED
MALNUTRITION AWARENESS WEEK • SEPT. 28 - OCT. 2
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