Final answer:
Malnutrition can be primary, caused directly by dietary deficiencies, or secondary, stemming from another underlying condition. Primary malnutrition includes inadequate nutrient intake due to lack of access to food, poor food distribution, and high food costs.
Step-by-step explanation:
Malnutrition refers to both undernutrition and overnutrition, where an individual either consumes too little or too much energy or nutrients. Causes of primary malnutrition, which is due to dietary deficiencies themselves and not an underlying disease, can include lack of access to nutritious food, inadequate intake of proteins and essential micronutrients, and poor distribution and affordability of food.
Such deficiencies might lead to conditions like anemia, growth failure in children, and diseases like kwashiorkor or marasmus. In contrast, examples of secondary causes of malnutrition, such as certain diseases (e.g., cancer, AIDS) and conditions like HIV/AIDS, do not directly cause malnutrition but rather result from a different primary condition that leads to malabsorption or increased nutritional needs.