Mild-Moderate Forms of Protein-Calorie Malnutrition

Kwashiorkor and marasmus have been the topics of a great many publications during the past several years. Incidence, clinical characteristics, differences in these characteristics from one locality to another, biochemical findings, metabolic alterations, treatment of acute and convalescent stages, and descriptions of various programs aimed at preventing severe protein-calorie malnutrition have been presented in detail. Publications specifically oriented toward the less severe but much more frequent forms of protein-calorie malnutrition have appeared comparatively rarely. There are, unfortunately, no simple biochemical on metabolic tests that aid greatly in establishing a diagnosis of mild protein-calorie malnutrition.