Acute malnutrition. Not always caused by lack of food, malnutrition can also be the result of an unbalanced diet and/or disease.
There are two types of acute malnutrition. A swollen stomach is indicative of kwashiorkor, malnutrition caused by protein deficiency. It often affects children when they are no longer fed milk and their new diet is lacking in protein. The protein deficiency causes fluids to drain from the blood into the stomach, causing the characteristic swelling (edema) which may also be present in the arms, legs, hands, feet, and faces. A lingering disease, these children tend to be lethargic. Although kwashiorkor may not kill, permanent injury is not uncommon�such as mental retardation.
A general lack of calories causes the other type of malnutrition, marasmus. Children with marasmus are extremely emaciated after having lost muscle and fat tissue. Their skin may be in folds and their faces very wrinkled from the extreme weight loss. These children have poor appetites and are often irritable.
Children may also exhibit both forms of acute malnutrition, marasmus and kwashiorkor, simultaneously.
Anorexia Nervosa (self-starvation), Bulimia Nervosa (binge/purge disorder) and Binge Eating Disorder are slightly different in that although malnutrition can occur, some necessary proteins are often present � albeit temporarily � sufficiently enough to prevent acute malnutrition. When someone with anorexia or bulimia gets to the point of Crisis Stage with terminal starvation signs, then edema will occur, and in all likelihood death.