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a. What problems does a baby face if the baby cannot get enough
mother's milk?

b. Why is mother's milk precious for infants?

Malnutrition is the condition of deficiency or excess of nutrients.
There are various reasons behind malnutrition. \/Ve are malnour-
ished due to consuming an imbalanced diet and our wrong eating
habits. As a result, the diseases can attack us. The problen1 of mal-
nutrition can be timely addressed by being aware of a balanced diet
and adopting a healthy lifestyle. The main causes of malnutrition
are as follows:
i. Malnutrition is caused due to lack of breastfeeding for the first
six months of a child and an additional nutritious diet after six
months.

ii. Inadequate nutrients in food and wrong eating habits cause
malnutrition
ui. Limited access to nutritious food causes malnutrition.

iv. Eating the same types of food items is one of the causes.

v. It is caused by the dieting practice among teenagers to lose
weight.
vi. It is caused by consuming oily, salty and spicy food items.

vn. The excess washing, chopping, overcooking, overheating, re-
heating, and drying lead the nutrient loss. Consuming such
food items is also one of the causes.

viii. Diseases like roundworm, dysentery, diarrhea, and tuberculo-
sis cause malnutrition.
ix. People have junk food and other processed food items having
harmful chemical mixtures due to the effect of attractive adver-
tisements.

x. Wrong beliefs and misconceptions about food items also tend
to inalnutrition.
xi. Food scarcity, lack of food security, and lack of food storage
also lead to nlalnutrition.

32 Health, Physical ai1d Creillive arts, grade 8