Malnutrition is the slow accumulation of deficiencies that develop on a diet sufficient in bulk but lacking in essential nutrients — the long monotony of ship’s biscuit and salt pork, the winter months on stored grain, the prisoner on bread and water. Where starvation kills by emptiness, malnutrition disables by imbalance, and its damage may take months to surface and as long to repair.
Symptoms
Slow healing of wounds, frequent minor illnesses, bleeding gums, brittle nails and dull hair, skin lesions that will not close, swollen ankles, persistent fatigue out of proportion to the work done. Specific deficiencies bring specific signs — night blindness, joint pain, mouth sores — but they cluster.
Progression
Stamina and immune resistance degrade week by week. Minor infections become severe; wounds that should heal in days fester instead. In its severe forms, malnutrition shades into the named deficiency-diseases of scurvy, beriberi, and rickets, each of which marks a particular nutrient driven to its limit.
Treatment
- Restore variety to the diet — fresh meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, dairy when available
- Bone broth for slow nourishment, citrus or other tart fruit for the gums and teeth
- Rest, and do not return to hard labor until strength is regained
- Repair takes weeks or months; do not measure recovery by days