Nutritional disorders include malnutrition and inadequate nutrition, overweight and obesity, micronutrient disorders and refeeding syndrome. According to the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, sarcopenia and fragility are nutrition-related conditions with complex and multiple pathogenic infrastructure. Inadequate nutrition is also considered as protein-energy malnutrition and is often accompanied by micronutrient as well as macronutrient deficiencies. Macronutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, and fats are essential nutrients that provide energy to the body and aid in growth. Micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and trace elements are necessary for many special functions in the body. Meanwhile, drug intake can lead to increased morbidity and mortality and decreased quality of life by causing malnutrition through various mechanisms. The pharmacological and pharmaceutical properties of drugs can affect the intake, digestion, absorption, storage, metabolism, and elimination of nutrients, causing imbalance in the amount of nutrients required in the body. Polypharmacy makes this situation even more risky. Many of the patients’ symptoms or complaints received by physicians in their daily practice are associated with drug-induced nutritional disorders. When evaluating symptoms, physicians should also assess whether the symptoms are related to the disease, drug side effects, or drug-induced nutritional disorders. Instead of thinking that the resulting symptoms are simply “part of the disease” or “old age” and starting to take additional medication to resolve them, physicians should focus thoroughly on the event and examine what problems that the drugs used may cause in patients and the underlying reasons for deciding what they can do to eliminate them. This intervention should be investigated. Hence, this review aimed to explore the importance of the subject by mentioning the mechanisms of the negative effects of drugs on nutrition and providing examples of commonly used drugs.

Keywords: Clinical nutrition, drug, malnutrition, nutritional disorder