I do suffer from malnutrition, have for years. My problem is gluten intolerance. Not knowing about gluten, I was ill for years, over 20, before finding out about this. I have been gluten free for nearly 9 yrs now, and have had my ups and downs. After going gluten free, I lost 60# and was doing much better. That's when my other intolerance's started to appear. It has taken me until last Mar 08, to get them under control. I probably will never get all the nutrition I need from food. Anyone who is suffering from malnutrition should be taking a good multiple vitamin, and you should also have your Vit B12 level checked. Doctors tell us a level of 200 is ok, but it isn't, 200 is way too low, especially if you suffer from malnutrition.
I also would like to add, not everyone loses weight when malnourished. Some of us gain, and gain a lot. Sometimes your body will go crazy, and store everything as fat. That's what my body does. My body tends to always think it is in starvation mode, which wrecks havoc with my metabolism. I now have CFS because of all of this, plus I have small fiber neuropathy, arthritis, raynauds, sleep apnea, insomnia, and anxiety.
Nutrition is very important, even when we do not feel like working on it.
We urge all doctors to take time to listen to your patients...don't "isolate" symptoms but look at the whole spectrum. If a patient tells you s/h feels as if s/he's falling apart and "nothing seems to be working properly", chances are s/he's right!