Page:Helen Rich Baldwin - Nutrition and Health (1924).pdf/15



Malnutrition is not a disease. It is a lowered physical and mental condition of the body, brought about by faulty or inadequate diet and bad health habits.

It is essential that a child’s food contain such vital elements as will give the body the best possible material with which to work. At the same time the body must be in the best of condition in order to receive the entire benefit from the foods eaten.

The lack of either or both of these conditions necessary for normal growth may result in malnutrition.

It is estimated on reliable authority that there are 6,000,000 children in our country suffering from malnutrition. In other words, more than one third of our children of school age are below normal physically and mentally.

This condition of undernourishment is not confined to people who have no money. As a matter of fact the greatest proportion of malnourished children occurs among families of average means.

The most important thing to consider in connection with malnutrition is the question of its cause.

There are numerous causes of this condition, of which the following are the major causes:

1. Insufficient food. 2. Unsuitable food.

3. Improper cooking.

4. Faulty food habits.

5. Disorders in digestive tract.

6. Faulty assimilation.

7. Bad posture.

8. Diseased organs.

9. Over-fatigue.

10. Faulty health habits.