A full history and examination should be followed by measurement of height and weight, body composition may be assessed by simple anthropometrics, and changes in appetite and food intake monitored. More sophisticated research methods for measuring body composition are discussed and the value and limitations of biochemical measurements described. Chapter 4 is devoted to describing the functional and clinical consequences of undernutrition. Short of this, however, undernutrition reduces both physical and mental function. In children, growth and development are impaired.
Wounds fail to heal and convalescence is prolonged.
Depression and irritability are consistently found. Chapter 5 contains a discussion of energy and protein metabolism from simple bedside calculations to more sophisticated laboratory measurements of patients' metabolic requirements. Chapter 6 describes the early and late metabolic consequences of starvation in man. In many patients, illness and malnutrition are associated with the metabolic response to injury, the subject of Chapter 7. This response accelerates tissue wasting and has other important metabolic consequences.