Can individuals with obesity be malnourished? Why it’s hard to identify
When we think of malnutrition, we often picture individuals who are underweight or experiencing hunger, struggling with inadequate levels of essential nutrients. However, malnutrition can also exist in individuals with obesity. Many people in this population may have a relatively low intake of essential nutrients, especially during illness, leading to physiological changes often overlooked in clinical assessments. Identifying protein-energy malnutrition in individuals with obesity is challenging due to distinctive physical and physiological characteristics, including increased body weight, adipose tissue dysfunction and metabolic dysregulation presented as systemic inflammation.
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