Malnutrition-Based Chronic Disease: A New Framework for Preventive Care

The MBCD model is a novel interpretation of malnutrition designed to lend greater precision to research, education, and clinical practice while also exposing early opportunities for prevention of nutritional complications. The MBCD model is not intended to replace clinical terms such as overnutrition, overweight, obesity, undernutrition, or other listings in Table 7.2. Rather, the MBCD model is a framework to house these terms, improve understanding, and avoid miscommunication. Further work is needed to expand and detail the MBCD model further as different clinical scenarios are addressed. Most importantly, clinical research is needed to validate the model and demonstrate pragmatic relevance. It is hoped that by creating a consensus lexicon and structure for malnutrition research, education, and practice, silos among different specialties can be dismantled, healthcare advanced, and wide-reaching clinical outcomes improved.