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The term underweight refers to a human who is considered to be under a healthy weight. The definition is usually made with reference to the body mass index (BMI). A BMI of under 18.5 is usually referred to as underweight[1]. It is important to note that the BMI is a statistical estimate and some individuals classified as underweight may be perfectly healthy. In fact, caloric restriction may be a viable means of increasing the lifespan, and it can easily lead to a BMI of less than 18.5. This medical definition of underweight may differ from other uses of the term, such as those based on attractiveness. This article is about modern humans. ...
For other uses, see Weight (disambiguation). ...
A graph of body mass index is shown above. ...
Caloric restriction or Calorie restriction (CR) is the practice of limiting dietary energy intake to improve health and retard aging. ...
When used with people, this term is often synonymous with sexual desirability, but can also simply mean whether or not someone is considered appealing to look at. ...
Causes
The most common cause of a person being underweight is primarily malnutrition caused by the unavailability of adequate food, which can run as high as 50% in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. The effects of primary malnutrition may be amplified by disease; even easily treatable diseases such as diarrhea may lead to death.
In the presence of adequate food resources, underweight is generally the result of mental or physical disease. There are hundreds of possible medical causes for excessive weight loss or a person being underweight. Some of the more prevalent include:
A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows what he found. ...
A famine is a social and economic crisis that is commonly accompanied by widespread malnutrition, starvation, epidemic and increased mortality. ...
Torture, according to international law, is any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has...
For the symphonic black metal band, see Anorexia Nervosa (band) For other uses, see Anorexia Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes an eating disorder characterized by low body weight and body image distortion with an obsessive fear of gaining weight. ...
Bulimia nervosa, commonly known as bulimia, is an eating disorder. ...
Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these to spread, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion, or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis (where cancer cells are transported through the bloodstream or lymphatic system). ...
Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis. ...
Hyperthyroidism (or overactive thyroid gland) is the clinical syndrome caused by an excess of circulating free thyroxine (T4) or free triiodothyronine (T3), or both. ...
This article is about the disease that features high blood sugar. ...
Drug abuse has a wide range of definitions related to taking a psychoactive drug or performance enhancing drug for a non-therapeutic or non-medical effect. ...
In medicine, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of inflammatory conditions of the large intestine and, in some cases, the small intestine. ...
The gastrointestinal or digestive tract, also referred to as the GI tract or the alimentary canal or the gut, is the system of organs within multicellular animals which takes in food, digests it to extract energy and nutrients, and expels the remaining waste. ...
Species Human immunodeficiency virus 1 Human immunodeficiency virus 2 Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS, a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections). ...
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS or Aids) is a collection of symptoms and infections resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). ...
Stimulants are drugs that temporarily increase alertness and wakefulness. ...
Problems The most immediate problem with underweight is that it might be secondary to, and/or symptomatic of, an underlying disease. Unexplained weight loss requires professional medical diagnosis.
Underweight can also be a primary causative condition. Severely underweight individuals may have poor physical stamina and a weak immune system, leaving them open to infection. According to Robert E. Black of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, "Underweight status ... and micronutrient deficiencies also cause decreases in immune and non-immune host defences, and should be classified as underlying causes of death if followed by infectious diseases that are the terminal associated causes."[2] People who are malnutrative underweight raise special concerns, as not only gross caloric intake may be inadequate, but also intake and absorption of other vital nutrients, especially essential amino acids and micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. A scanning electron microscope image of a single neutrophil (yellow), engulfing anthrax bacteria (orange). ...
An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. ...
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is part of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was the first institution of its kind in the world. ...
In women, being grossly underweight can result in amenorrhea[3] (absence of menstruation) and possible complications during pregnancy. It can also cause anemia and hair loss. Amenorrhoea (BE) or amenorrhea (AmE) is the absence of a menstrual period in a woman of reproductive age. ...
A pregnant woman near the end of her term Pregnancy is the carrying of one or more offspring in an embryonal or fetal stage of development by female mammals, including humans, inside their bodies, between the stages of conception and birth. ...
Underweight is an established risk factor for osteoporosis[4] even for young people. This is a particular insidious consequence, because the affected persons do not notice the danger, they can feel fit and may be brilliant for example in endurance sports. After the occurrence of first spontaneous fractures the damage is often already irreversible. Osteoporosis is a disease of bone in which the bone mineral density (BMD) is reduced, bone microarchitecture is disrupted, and the amount and variety of non-collagenous proteins in bone is altered. ...
Weight gain If an individual is severely underweight to the point where problems with his or her health develop, it may be necessary for the person to make a concentrated effort to gain weight. The treatment for an underweight individual is to increase the food energy intake so that more food energy is consumed than is being used as work. It is usually suggested that weight training is also to be undertaken to increase muscle mass. Food energy is the amount of energy in food that is available through digestion. ...
A complete weight training workout can be performed with a pair of adjustable dumbbells and a set of weight disks (plates). ...
A top-down view of skeletal muscle Muscle (from Latin musculus little mouse [1]) is contractile tissue of the body and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. ...
If weight loss results from a disease, resolving the illness and consuming adequate calories can bring many underweight individuals to a healthy body weight.
See also Body image is a persons perception of his or her own physical appearance. ...
This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...
References - ^ National Heart Lung and Blood Institute [1] Accessed July 23, 2007.
- ^ Black, Robert E, Morris, Saul S, Bryce, Jennifer: "Where and Why are 10 Million Children Dying Every Year?", The Lancet, Vol 361, June 28 2003. [2]
- ^ Nelson, Lawrence M MD, MBA, Bakalov, Vladimir MD, "Amenorrhea", eMedicine, May 17 2005. [3]
- ^ Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource, May 8, 2005. [4].
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