A decreased appetite occurs when you have a reduced desire to eat. It may also be known as a poor appetite or loss of appetite. A wide variety of conditions can cause your appetite to decrease, ranging from mental conditions to physical illnesses. If you develop a loss of appetite, you may also experience related symptoms, such as weight loss or malnutrition. These can be serious if left untreated, so it is important to find the reason behind your decreased appetite and treat it.

What Causes A Decreased Appetite?
Bacteria and Viruses
Most commonly, a decreased appetite is due to a bacterial or viral infection. The symptom appears along with other influenza symptoms-such as coughing, tiredness, or sneezing. As these illnesses are typically very short-term and rarely last over a few weeks, your appetite will return to normal quickly.

Psychological Causes
There are various psychological causes for a decreased appetite. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), many elderly people lose their appetites, though the reason why is unknown. (NIH, 2010) Your appetite may also tend to decrease when you are sad, depressed, grieving, or anxious.

Eating disorders-such as anorexia nervosa-can also lead to a decreased appetite overall. A person with anorexia undergoes self-starvation or other methods to lose weight. People who suffer from this condition are typically underweight and have an extreme fear of gaining weight. Anorexia nervosa can also cause malnutrition.

Physical Causes
-- Polyarteritis Nodosa
-- Chronic liver disease or kidney failure
-- Heart failure
-- Hepatitis
-- Dementia
-- Hypothyroidism, a condition where your thyroid is under-active

Home Care
If the decrease is due to a medical condition like cancer or chronic illness, it can be difficult to stimulate your appetite. However, eating with family and friends, cooking your favourite foods, or going out to eat at restaurants may help to encourage eating. Light exercise may help increase appetite, or you might consider focusing on eating just one large meal per day, with light snacks in between.

Eating frequent small meals can be helpful, and these are usually easier on the stomach than large meals. To ensure you are getting enough nutrients from food, meals should be high in calories and protein. You may also want to try liquid protein drinks. It can be useful to keep a diary of what you eat and drink over a period of a few days to a week. This will help your doctor to assess your nutritional intake and the extent of your decreased appetite.