Tackling Disease-related Malnutrition

This year’s focus is on raising awareness about disease-related malnutrition (DRM), and its impact on patient wellbeing. Learn more how to tackle this form of malnutrition this Malnutrition Awareness Week. 

Nutritional care can often be overlooked in patients as part of their recovery, in fact 1 in 4 patients in hospital are thought to be  malnourished; this risk increases to over 1 in 3 in patients over 70 years old¹. 

So, what is DRM? 
 

Disease related malnutrition is a type of malnutrition where inadequate nutrient intake is a result of a disease or its treatments. This can result in weight loss, loss of skeletal muscle, physical and mental dysfunction, and worse clinical outcome.

However, nutritional deficiencies should not be seen as inevitable consequence of illness, as there is opportunity to improve nutritional status through the provision of specialized products ‘that are energy and nutrient dense that and also well tolerated and palatable by patients.

Learn more about the role of Oral Nutritional Supplements in addressing nutrition in cancer patients in this infographic.