Malnutrition Resources for Consumers

Tip Sheet

• Oral Nutrition Supplements 2022      

Nutrition Guides for Consumers  

When your body does not get the right balance of energy and nutrients that it needs, you may become malnourished. Malnutrition threatens your health and your ability to fight sickness and injuries. These consumer guides provide warning signs of malnutrition and tips for good nutrition.

Guide for Patients with Cancer

Guide for Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Guide for Older Adults

Ask About Your Nutrition Posters

It is important for patients, as well as caregivers and families, to be proactive and ask about their nutrition status. ASPEN has created two educational posters to help you recognize the signs of malnutrition, so you can talk to your healthcare provider about treatment. The posters are available in multiple languages.

FOR ADULTS  English French Spanish Arabic Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese

FOR CHILDREN English  French Spanish  Arabic Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese

How Do I Talk with My Healthcare Provider about Malnutrition?
This short, on-demand video will help patients and caregivers have productive conversations with their healthcare providers around their nutrition status. View the video.

A Guide for Adults: How to Spot and Talk About Symptoms That Could Mean You’re Malnourished
This easy to follow 1-sheet summarizes the information shared in the How Do I Talk with My Healthcare Provider about Malnutrition video. View the guide.

Malnutrition Infographs
Each day, approximately 15,000 hospital patients with malnutrition go undiagnosed. Patients with malnutrition have higher hospital costs, longer stays, and increased mortality. Please share these infographics on malnutrition with colleagues, patients and their families. 

Malnourished Hospitalized Patients are Associated with Poorer Outcomes	Malnourished Hospitalized Patients - Continue to Rise	Malnourished Emergency Department Patients
Content in the two new infographics is sourced from the article " Malnutrition diagnoses and associated outcomes in hospitalized patients: United States, 2018," published online in Nutrition in Clinical Practice, September 2021.

  

Videos on Malnutrition

• The Importance of Nutrition to Prevent and Treat Low Muscle Mass 2020 

RESOURCES FOR OLDER ADULTS

The causes of malnutrition in older adults are a complex blend of physical, social, and psychological issues — from the loss of appetite due to depression to the inability to get to the store for groceries. Here are some resources to help seniors:

• Malnutrition: A Hidden Epidemic in Older Adults from the Alliance for Aging Research. This short "pocket film" covers who is at risk for malnutrition, the debilitating impact it can have on older adults, tips for identifying the condition, and how it can be treated and prevented.
• The Self MNA^® Mini Nutritional Assessment is a simple tool for adults 65 years of age and older and their caregivers to determine if a senior’s nutritional needs are being met and to help identify signs of malnutrition. The results from the Self MNA can be shared and discussed with your doctors. It is available in 12 languages. See the MNA User Guide and video. Download the Mini Nutritional Assessment forms.
  
• Meals on Wheels provides seniors with a nutritious meal, a friendly visit, and a safety check. Click here to find a local program in your area and to see you or your loved one qualifies.
• World Health Organization Guidelines: Integrated care for older people (ICOPE)
  
   

RESOURCES FOR PEDIATRICS  

Papers

• Bouma S. Diagnosing Pediatric Malnutrition: Paradigm Shifts of Etiology‐Related Definitions and Appraisal of the Indicators. Nutr Clin Pract. 2017;32(1):52-67.
• Abdelhadi RA, Bouma S, Bairdain S, et al. Characteristics of hospitalized children with a diagnosis of malnutrition: United States, 2010. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2016;40(5):623-635.
• Becker P, et al. Consensus statement of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics/American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. Indicators recommended for the identification and documentation of pediatric malnutrition (Undernutrition).Nutr Clin Pract. 2015;30(1):147-161.
• Mehta N, et al. Defining pediatric malnutrition a paradigm shift toward etiology‐related definitions.  JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2013;37(4): 460-481.
   

Videos

• Malnutrition in Children with Chronic Disease: Congenital Heart Disease and Liver Disease (Part 1)2019  
• Malnutrition in Children with Chronic Disease: Cystic Fibrosis and Renal Disease (Part 2)2019  
• Neonatal Parenteral Nutrition and Alternative Lipids (Part 1)2019  
• Neonatal Transition from Parenteral to Enteral Nutrition (Part 2)2019  
  
• Malnutrition Matters for Pediatric Patients 2018  
• Metabolism Matters (Malnutrition - Pediatric Patients) 2018