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Home :: Family Health :: Underweight Underweight - Underweight symptom, treatment, causesTo be underweight is to have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of less than 20. BMI is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in metres ). Some people are naturally lean. but a BMI under 18 indicates unhealthy underweight. We all need stored body fat to provide a source of energy when our requirements are higher than the amount of energy we take in as food. With too little body fat there is not enough to fall back on if you become ill, or for some other reason cannot eat enough to supply your regular daily energy needs, Without stored fat as a source of energy, your body will start to break down protein, mostly from muscle but also from other vital structures. This not only makes you weak and slow to recover. but can result in serious disturbances to the composi-tion of blood plasma and other body fluids, which can make you very ill and occasionally cause death. Women also need fat for the normal functioning of their reproductive systems. Women with too little fat to support a pregnancy stop ovulating and (usually) menstruating. and their ovaries produce too little oestrogen to maintain health. Withoutenough oestrogen women are more likely to develop heart and blood vessel disease and lose cal-cium from their bones. which increases their risk of developing OSTEOPOROSIS Women undergoing strenuous athletic training may have a normal body weight but too little body fat because they have replaced most of their fat with muscle. The serious health risks for women athletes who stop menstruating have been recog-nised only recently. They are now encouraged to eat more so that they will maintain enough body fat for normal ovarian function Elderly people tend to lose weight gradually over the years. partly because of decreased appetite and less efficient metabolism with age. Other con-tributing factors may be problems with chewing. anq, physical difficulties in shopping for and prepa-ration of food. In general. older people who are not underweight enjoy better health and live longer. Ensuring a nutritious diet will help to maintain healthy weight. Underweight is a condition in which the person does not have an ideal weight as per his height and sex. A person can be regarded as moderately underweight if he or she weighs ten percent below the ideal body weight and markedly so if the weight is twenty percent below the ideal. For adults, a BMI below 19.1 for females and 20.7 for males is considered underweight. A BMI of 17.5 indicates an individual is very underweight. Sometimes, the problem of underweight is hereditary. Individuals who are underweight are at high risk for malnutrition . Being underweight can affect growth and development , and it can cause infertility or delayed menstruation. It can also result in fatigue , irritability, and a lack of concentration, as well as impairing the body's ability to thermoregulate itself. Due to a decreased immune response, underweight individuals are less resistant to infections and disease. It is recommended that underweight individuals gain one pound per week until an appropriate weight is reached. This can be accomplished by consistently (daily) increasing one's intake of calorically denser foods (i.e., nuts instead of pretzels), eating more frequently, and drinking fluids between meals rather than with meals. Causes of UnderweightThe common Causes of Underweight :
Symptoms of UnderweightSome common Symptoms of Underweight :
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