Doctors urged to tackle malnutrition in obesity

A recent editorial calls on doctors to address the underrecognized problem of malnutrition among individuals with obesity to help prevent early death from cardiovascular events.

A study has found that malnutrition is common among people with acute coronary syndrome, which is the sudden reduction of blood flow to the heart that causes angina or a heart attack.

The researchers — at the University Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro in Vigo, Spain — found that malnutrition in these individuals was an independent risk factor for all-cause mortality and major cardiovascular events, such as stroke or another heart attack.

Surprisingly, they found that malnutrition was common even among those with overweight or obesity.

In fact, individuals with overweight or obesity are often malnourished as a result of their low intake of micronutrients and the poor quality of the foods that they eat.

“Malnutrition is a largely underrecognized and undertreated condition in patients with increased body mass index, as increased abdominal girth is too often mistaken for overnutrition rather than undernutrition,” says Dr. Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver, CO.

Dr. Freeman co-authored the editorial with Dr. Monica Aggarwal, who is an associate professor of medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville.