Malnutrition
Recent clinical, regulatory, research and industry developments relating to this disease.
The Role of Nutrition in Neurological Disorders.
Endocrinology of Underweight and Anorexia Nervosa.
Epidemiology of sarcopenia: Prevalence, risk factors, and consequences.
Sarcopenic Dysphagia, Malnutrition, and Oral Frailty in Elderly: A Comprehensive Review.
Maternal Nutrition and Neurodevelopment: A Scoping Review.
What's happening now
An analyst briefing on current research, clinical, regulatory and industry activity surrounding this disease.
- 4 clinical trials expected to report results, the earliest in Q3 2026.
- Q3 2026Co-SAM: An Adaptive Multi-arm Trial to Improve Clinical Outcomes Among Children Recovering From Complicated Severe Acute Malnutrition
- Q4 2026Choline to Improve Malnutrition and Enhance Cognition
- Q4 2027MFGM-EnhaNceD RUTF for Children With SAM
- Q2 2028Azithromycin as Adjunctive Treatment for Uncomplicated Severe Acute Malnutrition: the AMOUR Trial
Clinical MilestonesViewHide
- 2026-03-19Co-SAM: An Adaptive Multi-arm Trial to Improve Clinical Outcomes Among Children Recovering From Complicated Severe Acute MalnutritionResults expected Q3 2026
- 2026-03-17Choline to Improve Malnutrition and Enhance CognitionResults expected Q4 2026
- 2025-12-17MFGM-EnhaNceD RUTF for Children With SAMResults expected Q4 2027
- 2025-10-15Azithromycin as Adjunctive Treatment for Uncomplicated Severe Acute Malnutrition: the AMOUR TrialResults expected Q2 2028
- 2026-08-01A Single-arm Open-label Safety Study of SMOFlipid to Evaluate the Risk of Developing Essential Fatty Acid Deficiency (EFAD) and/or Parenteral Nutrition-associated Cholestasis (PNAC) in Pediatric Patients 1 Month to 17 Years of Age and in Adult Patients, Who Are Anticipated to Need 8 Weeks or Longer of Parenteral Nutrition TreatmentPrimary completion
- 2026-04-16Efficacy of Striatin on Weight Gain, Improvement of Acute Phase Inflammatory Marker, and the Change of Firmicutes Bacteroidetes (F/B), SCFA, BDNF Proteins in Malnourished Children: A Preliminary StudyCompleted
- 2025-10-15Effect of Roxadustat on Cardiovascular System and Malnutrition-Inflammation-Atherosclerosis (MIA) Syndrome in Hemodialysis Patients: A Randomized Controlled StudyPrimary completion
- 2026-08-01ClinicalA Single-arm Open-label Safety Study of SMOFlipid to Evaluate the Risk of Developing Essential Fatty Acid Deficiency (EFAD) and/or Parenteral Nutrition-associated Cholestasis (PNAC) in Pediatric Patients 1 Month to 17 Years of Age and in Adult Patients, Who Are Anticipated to Need 8 Weeks or Longer of Parenteral Nutrition TreatmentPrimary completion
- 2026-04-16ClinicalEfficacy of Striatin on Weight Gain, Improvement of Acute Phase Inflammatory Marker, and the Change of Firmicutes Bacteroidetes (F/B), SCFA, BDNF Proteins in Malnourished Children: A Preliminary StudyCompleted
- 2026-03-19ClinicalCo-SAM: An Adaptive Multi-arm Trial to Improve Clinical Outcomes Among Children Recovering From Complicated Severe Acute MalnutritionResults expected Q3 2026
- 2026-03-17ClinicalCholine to Improve Malnutrition and Enhance CognitionResults expected Q4 2026
- 2025-12-17ClinicalMFGM-EnhaNceD RUTF for Children With SAMResults expected Q4 2027
- 2025-10-15ClinicalAzithromycin as Adjunctive Treatment for Uncomplicated Severe Acute Malnutrition: the AMOUR TrialResults expected Q2 2028
- 2025-10-15ClinicalEffect of Roxadustat on Cardiovascular System and Malnutrition-Inflammation-Atherosclerosis (MIA) Syndrome in Hemodialysis Patients: A Randomized Controlled StudyPrimary completion
Therapeutic landscape
Therapies with a regulatory footing for this condition, alongside the wider set of agents co-studied with it in the literature.
Approval — For the long-term treatment of growth failure in children and adolescents with severe pri… (2007)
Clinical trials
The current development programme across all trial phases.
Regulatory timeline
Drug regulatory events matched to this condition by indication — EMA.
European Medicines Agency (CC BY 4.0). Events are matched to this condition by drug indication text — approvals/updates for drugs indicated for it, not disease-specific acts.
Research activity
Key research shaping understanding of this disease, combining the latest publications with the most influential evidence.
Major themes8
- Malnutrition4
- Sarcopenia2
- Anorexia Nervosa1
- Cognitive Dysfunction1
- Deglutition Disorders1
- Endocrinology1
- Frailty1
- Nervous System Diseases1
Leading journals4
- Nutrients5
- Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.)1
- Metabolism: clinical and experimental1
- Nutrition journal1
Leading researchers8
- Agostini F1
- Bernal W1
- Bossi P1
- Carey EJ1
- Cortés-Albornoz MC1
- Dasarathy S1
- de Sire A1
- de Sire R1
Affiliations (unnormalised)6
- Cancer Treatment Centers of America® at Midwestern Regional Medical Center1
- Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics Unit1
- Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet)1
- Dental Clinic1
- Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery1
- Dietetic and Clinical Nutrition Unit1
Related conditions
Diseases frequently studied alongside this one. Number shows shared papers.
Disease profile
A grounded synthesis of the condition — overview, causes, mechanism, risk factors and current standard of care.
Malnutrition is an imbalanced nutritional state caused by insufficient intake of nutrients to meet normal physiological requirements. The supplied literature treats it as a disturbance of nutritional status that can occur across settings, including oncology, aging, pregnancy, and eating disorders. It is discussed in relation to complications and epidemiology.
The grounding supports insufficient nutrient intake as the core cause of malnutrition. It also links malnutrition to inadequate maternal nutrient intake during pregnancy and to underweight states such as anorexia nervosa. In oncology and older adults, the literature describes tumor-related, treatment-related, age-related, and swallowing-related contributors to poor nutritional status.
The central biological feature is disrupted nutritional status due to inadequate nutrient availability for normal physiology. The literature associates malnutrition with downstream changes in body composition and function, including loss of muscle mass and strength in sarcopenia, endocrine changes in underweight states, and impaired swallowing in sarcopenic dysphagia. It is also linked to adverse outcomes such as poorer survival and other complications.
The supplied abstracts identify older age, cancer, diabetes, unresectable esophageal cancer, frailty, dysphagia, poor oral health, and pregnancy with inadequate nutrient intake as contexts associated with malnutrition or related nutritional decline. Tumor-related and treatment-related factors are also described as influencing nutritional status in oncology. The literature further notes underweight states and anorexia nervosa as relevant settings.
AI-generated summary grounded in MeSH and 6 peer-reviewed sources. Informational only — not medical advice. Generated 2026-07-07.
Reference
Authoritative identity, definition & identifiers.
An imbalanced nutritional status resulting from insufficient intake of nutrients to meet normal physiological requirement.
- Disease identity & definition — NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), public domain
- Clinical trials — ClinicalTrials.gov (U.S. National Library of Medicine)
- Research activity — Europe PMC (EMBL-EBI) + OpenAlex-derived paper links
- Related entities are derived from literature co-mention (studied together) — associative, not causal.