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Anorexie (Symptom)
Normal short-term, a warning sign if lasting — especially together with weight loss.
Also known as: loss of appetite · no appetite · poor appetite
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
Having little or no appetite is common and usually temporary. Short term, an infection, stress, grief, lack of sleep or a full stomach is often behind it — this settles on its own. If loss of appetite persists, look at the cause: mental strain or depression, certain medicines, a thyroid disorder, digestive problems or a chronic infection. The link to weight matters: if it comes with unintended weight loss or lasts for weeks, it should be assessed (see also “unexplained weight loss”). In older people, ongoing lack of appetite is especially serious, as undernutrition can develop quickly.
Anyone eating less from experience has an appetite — they just pay for it. The distinction decides what is looked for next.
Less appetite over weeks leads quietly into undersupply. Teeth, denture, swallowing, mood and medicines belong gone through as much as the food itself.
Rather small, nutrient-rich portions more often than large, off-putting plates.
Consider an infection, stress or a new medicine as the cause.
Even without hunger, enough fluid matters — soups and smoothies help.
Over weeks or with weight loss, have the cause assessed.
Giardia takes the appetite away over weeks — together with bloating and burping after eating.
A tapeworm often causes only nausea, changing hunger and a vague pull in the belly. A stool sample settles it in one step.
The dwarf tapeworm passes from person to person and multiplies in the same gut. Restlessness, poor appetite and belly pain are the most common signs in children.
Loss of appetite over a few days belongs to almost any infection. Lasting two to four weeks, especially together with weight loss, it becomes a sign in its own right. In older people it is common and often has several causes at once: medicines, teeth, taste, mood, zinc. Over sixty, ten days of eating little already costs measurable muscle — so time weighs more heavily here than in younger people.
Appetite stimulants exist and work weakly: megestrol and dronabinol raise weight a little, mainly as fat and water, and bring side effects — thromboses with megestrol. Cortisone works for weeks and is therefore used only at the end of life. What achieves more: going through the medicine list, looking at the teeth, checking taste, offering small frequent meals — and eating in company, which in studies means measurably more calories.
Temporary loss of appetite usually settles by itself.
A common, treatable cause of lasting appetite loss.
Side effects, metabolism and digestion can also reduce appetite.
Then get it assessed; in older people act early (undernutrition).
A lack damps smell and taste — and what does not taste is not eaten. From that grows a circle that a measurement can break.
When less is eaten overall, protein is what goes first and with it the muscle mass. Small, protein-rich portions across the day work better here than three large meals.
Both cause nausea, a coated mouth and an aversion to meat — and both are thinned out further by the eating less.
Drinking a lot before eating fills the stomach and takes the appetite. The fluid belongs between the meals, not before them.
With zinc deficiency the sense of taste fades, and the appetite with it. 10–15 mg a day over a few weeks is the usual frame; above 40 mg a day over months it disturbs copper uptake.
A B12 deficiency causes tiredness and loss of appetite before the blood count shifts. Measure before replacing — afterwards the value says nothing.
Best studied against nausea — 1 g a day, spread out. Where nausea takes the appetite it helps there; on the cause of the missing appetite it does not act.
The hunger signal from the stomach falls with inflammation, infection and tumour illness. That explains why loss of appetite over weeks is a finding in its own right and not merely an accompaniment.
A shortage — an underactive adrenal gland — causes loss of appetite, nausea, weight loss and low blood pressure. Rare, but important, because it is readily treatable.
In older age an overactive thyroid can look the opposite of what is expected: quiet, without appetite and losing weight rather than restless and hungry.
A full plate puts people off. 6 small meals deliver more than three large ones left half-eaten. Cold food smells less and is tolerated better with nausea.
With zinc deficiency food tastes bland, which lowers appetite further — a circle. After correction taste usually returns within 4–8 weeks.
Well studied for nausea — 1–2 g of powder a day. Where nausea takes the appetite it acts at the right place; with loss of appetite from other causes it does not.
A walk before the meal wakes the appetite more reliably than any bitter tonic. With unintended weight loss over 5 % in 6 months the cause belongs looked for, however.
The smell before eating is the actual point — appetite begins in the nose. One drop on a cloth is enough.
Against nausea ginger as a spice and capsule is well studied — the oil is not. Where nausea takes the appetite it works there.
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