nutritional disease
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What is a nutritional disease?
Nutritional diseases are nutrient-related conditions that cause illness in humans and can result from deficiencies or excesses in the diet. Undernutrition, a significant global issue, is characterized by insufficient food intake to meet energy needs, leading to weight loss, stunted growth, and weakened immunity.
Malnutrition results from prolonged deficiencies or excesses of energy or specific nutrients, such as protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, or minerals. It can arise from various factors, including inadequate diets, impaired absorption, or chronic illnesses.
Symptoms of malnutrition include weight loss, fatigue, muscle weakness, decreased immune function, and mental disturbances. Treatment varies depending on the cause, ranging from dietary adjustments and supplements to hospitalization and feeding tubes.
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What are some common types of nutritional diseases?
Nutritional diseases are nutrient-related conditions that cause illness and can include deficiencies or excesses in the diet, obesity and eating disorders, and chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancer, and diabetes mellitus.
Undernutrition, a significant nutrition-related disease, affects over 925 million people globally and is characterized by insufficient food intake to meet energy needs.
Common nutrient-deficiency diseases include:
* Scurvy (vitamin C deficiency)
* Rickets (vitamin D deficiency)
* Goitre (iodine deficiency)
* Iron-deficiency anemia (iron deficiency)
* Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM)5 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How can a poor diet cause nutritional diseases?
A poor diet can cause nutritional diseases through prolonged deficiency or excess of total energy or specific nutrients. Undernutrition, a significant nutrition-related disease, arises from insufficient food to meet energy needs, leading to weight loss and impaired development.
Malnutrition results from deficiencies/excesses of energy/nutrients, from limited food availability, unwise choices, or supplement overuse. For example, Vitamin C deficiency, often from restricted diets lacking fruits and vegetables, causes scurvy. Iron deficiency, the most common nutritional deficiency, leads to anemia, causing fatigue and increased health risks. A poor diet and/or food insecurity can also lead to type 2 diabetes, obesity, and hypertension.
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What are the symptoms of nutritional diseases like scurvy or rickets?
Nutritional diseases like scurvy and rickets result from vitamin deficiencies. Scurvy, caused by a lack of vitamin C, leads to fatigue, joint stiffness, swollen and bleeding gums, and slow wound healing. If untreated, it can be fatal.
Rickets, typically from vitamin D deficiency, results in softened bones and stunted growth. Early symptoms include restlessness, profuse sweating, and delayed development. If untreated, rickets can cause bowlegs, knock-knees, and a narrowed chest.
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How do vitamins and minerals relate to nutritional diseases?
Vitamins and minerals are essential to human health, and their deficiency can lead to various nutritional diseases.
Inadequate intake of vitamins results in deficiency diseases, also known as hypovitaminosis, with the severity depending on the level of deprivation. Symptoms can be specific or nonspecific. For example, a lack of vitamin D in children causes rickets, which is characterized by weakened bones and skeletal deformities. A deficiency in vitamin C can cause scurvy, leading to impaired wound healing and internal bleeding. Mineral deficiencies can also cause disease; iron deficiency, the most common nutritional deficiency, can result in anemia, with symptoms such as fatigue and reduced growth.
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How can nutritional diseases be prevented or treated?
Nutritional diseases, arising from deficiencies or excesses in diet, significantly impact global health. Undernutrition, a major concern, affects over 925 million people worldwide, leading to weight loss, stunted growth, and weakened immunity. Preventative measures include dietary adjustments, food delivery services, and dietary supplements.
Treatment varies based on the cause and may involve dietary adjustments or, in severe cases, hospitalization with feeding tubes. A balanced intake of essential nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, is crucial, and specific combinations of foods can aid in restoring gut health and metabolic function. Fortifying foods with nutrients like vitamin D and providing fluoride supplements are effective strategies.
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nutritional disease, any of the nutrient-related diseases and conditions that cause illness in humans. They may include deficiencies or excesses in the diet, obesity and eating disorders, and chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancer, and diabetes mellitus. Nutritional diseases also include developmental abnormalities that can be prevented by diet, hereditary metabolic disorders that respond to dietary treatment, the interaction of foods and nutrients with drugs, food allergies and intolerances, and potential hazards in the food supply. All of these categories are described in this article. For a discussion of essential nutrients, dietary recommendations, and human nutritional needs and concerns throughout the life cycle, see nutrition, human.
Nutrient deficiencies
Although the so-called diseases of civilizationāfor example, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetesāwill be the focus of this article, the most significant nutrition-related disease is chronic undernutrition, which plagues more than 925 million people worldwide. Undernutrition is a condition in which there is insufficient food to meet energy needs; its main characteristics include weight loss, failure to thrive, and wasting of body fat and muscle. Low birth weight in infants, inadequate growth and development in children, diminished mental function, and increased susceptibility to disease are among the many consequences of chronic persistent hunger, which affects those living in poverty in both industrialized and developing countries. The largest number of chronically hungry people live in Asia, but the severity of hunger is greatest in sub-Saharan Africa. At the start of the 21st century, approximately 20,000 people, the majority of them children, died each day from undernutrition and related diseases that could have been prevented. The deaths of many of these children stem from the poor nutritional status of their mothers as well as the lack of opportunity imposed by poverty.
Only a small percentage of hunger deaths is caused by starvation due to catastrophic food shortages. During the 1990s, for example, worldwide famine (epidemic failure of the food supply) more often resulted from complex social and political issues and the ravages of war than from natural disasters such as droughts and floods.
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Malnutrition is the impaired function that results from a prolonged deficiencyāor excessāof total energy or specific nutrients such as protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, or minerals. This condition can result from fasting and anorexia nervosa; persistent vomiting (as in bulimia nervosa) or inability to swallow; impaired digestion and intestinal malabsorption; or chronic illnesses that result in loss of appetite (e.g., cancer, AIDS). Malnutrition can also result from limited food availability, unwise food choices, or overzealous use of dietary supplements.
Selected nutrient-deficiency diseases are listed in the table.
| disease (and key nutrient involved) | symptoms | foods rich in key nutrient |
|---|---|---|
| Source: Gordon M. Wardlaw, Perspectives in Nutrition (1999). | ||
| xerophthalmia (vitamin A) | blindness from chronic eye infections, poor growth, dryness and keratinization of epithelial tissues | liver, fortified milk, sweet potatoes, spinach, greens, carrots, cantaloupe, apricots |
| rickets (vitamin D) | weakened bones, bowed legs, other bone deformities | fortified milk, fish oils, sun exposure |
| beriberi (thiamin) | nerve degeneration, altered muscle coordination, cardiovascular problems | pork, whole and enriched grains, dried beans, sunflower seeds |
| pellagra (niacin) | diarrhea, skin inflammation, dementia | mushrooms, bran, tuna, chicken, beef, peanuts, whole and enriched grains |
| scurvy (vitamin C) | delayed wound healing, internal bleeding, abnormal formation of bones and teeth | citrus fruits, strawberries, broccoli |
| iron-deficiency anemia (iron) | decreased work output, reduced growth, increased health risk in pregnancy | meat, spinach, seafood, broccoli, peas, bran, whole-grain and enriched breads |
| goitre (iodine) | enlarged thyroid gland, poor growth in infancy and childhood, possible mental retardation, cretinism | iodized salt, saltwater fish |
Protein-energy malnutrition
Chronic undernutrition manifests primarily as protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), which is the most common form of malnutrition worldwide. Also known as protein-calorie malnutrition, PEM is a continuum in which peopleāall too often childrenāconsume too little protein, energy, or both. At one end of the continuum is kwashiorkor, characterized by a severe protein deficiency, and at the other is marasmus, an absolute food deprivation with grossly inadequate amounts of both energy and protein.
An infant with marasmus is extremely underweight and has lost most or all subcutaneous fat. The body has a āskin and bonesā appearance, and the child is profoundly weak and highly susceptible to infections. The cause is a diet very low in calories from all sources (including protein), often from early weaning to a bottled formula prepared with unsafe water and diluted because of poverty. Poor hygiene and continued depletion lead to a vicious cycle of gastroenteritis and deterioration of the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, which interferes with absorption of nutrients from the little food available and further reduces resistance to infection. If untreated, marasmus may result in death due to starvation or heart failure.
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Kwashiorkor, a Ghanaian word meaning the disease that the first child gets when the new child comes, is typically seen when a child is weaned from high-protein breast milk onto a carbohydrate food source with insufficient protein. Children with this disease, which is characterized by a swollen belly due to edema (fluid retention), are weak, grow poorly, and are more susceptible to infectious diseases, which may result in fatal diarrhea. Other symptoms of kwashiorkor include apathy, hair discoloration, and dry, peeling skin with sores that fail to heal. Weight loss may be disguised because of the presence of edema, enlarged fatty liver, and intestinal parasites; moreover, there may be little wasting of muscle and body fat.
Kwashiorkor and marasmus can also occur in hospitalized patients receiving intravenous glucose for an extended time, as when recovering from surgery, or in those with illnesses causing loss of appetite or malabsorption of nutrients. Persons with eating disorders, cancer, AIDS, and other illnesses where appetite fails or absorption of nutrients is hampered may lose muscle and organ tissue as well as fat stores.
Treatment of PEM has three components. (1) Life-threatening conditionsāsuch as fluid and electrolyte imbalances and infectionsāmust be resolved. (2) Nutritional status should be restored as quickly and safely as possible; rapid weight gain can occur in a starving child within one or two weeks. (3) The focus of treatment then shifts to ensuring nutritional rehabilitation for the long term. The speed and ultimate success of recovery depend upon the severity of malnutrition, the timeliness of treatment, and the adequacy of ongoing support. Particularly during the first year of life, starvation may result in reduced brain growth and intellectual functioning that cannot be fully restored.