Malnutrition and Kwashiorkor

Abstract

Summary 1. Taking into account that only through the etiologic and pathogenic knowledge of a disease it is possible to attempt its correct interpretation, the authors have considered necessary to do a comparative study between Malnutrition and Kwashiorkor, as seen respectively in Mexico and in Africa. 2. A comparison is made of the clinical, biochemical, and histopathological pictures, analyzing the information at hand. 3. No fundamental reason was found from the clinical, the biochemical, or the histopathological points of view to consider Malnutrition and Kwashiorkor as two different processes. 4. We believe that there is no reason to add a new term to designate an old malady, for this would increase the confusion among physicians and research workers. 5. Malnutrition, or one of its many African equivalents (Kwashiorkor), has a multiple etiology, but its pathogenesis is always the same: deficient assimilation of adequate amounts of essential nutrients by tissue cells. 6. We propose that the term Malnutrition (Desnutricih in Spanish) be used in preference to all other known names, classifying the disease by degrees—first, second, and third—to differentiate the various clinical, functional, biochemical, and anatomo—pathological manifestations observed in children during the diverse stages of the disease.