Issues in Human Nutrition

Hurriah · #1 Saturday, February 09, 2008

Malnutrition in the less developed world

About two thirds of the people in the world receive barely enough food to supply the energy they need. Insidious malnutrition is widespread in many regions of the globe .People rarely die of their undernourishment, however .Instead , they may succumb to very common and curable diseases to which to which their resistance has been lowered .This is because the immune system is vulnerable to undernourishment. Measles, for example is a major cause of death in malnourished children but not in those who are well fed.

When the body is deprived of a sufficient supply of energy, reserves of glycogen in the liver and other tissues are used up before fat stores around the body are mobilized .With continuing starvation and the absence of remaining fat reserves muscle protein starts to be use as a source of energy. This is the final phase of starvation.

Protein deficiency is a special form of malnutrition. It arises as described above, or when the diet contains enough energy but not enough protein. This happens when starchy foods like maize , yam or cassava are all that is eaten , for example, because protein rich seeds of legumes(such as peas , beans ,soya beans and chick peas) , or cereals like wheat or meat protein are not available. The condition , known as protein energy malnutrition , produces a range of symptoms in individuals (kwashiorkor or marasmus).Which ever symptoms develop , stunted growth and reduced resistance to infection follow.

Causes of the world hunger

The roots of the world hunger lie in poverty .There are enormous disparities in the disposable wealth of peoples and communities of the world today. Most hungry people and communities of the world today .Most hungry people have insufficient resources to obtain the food they need. Meanwhile, people in developed countries often explain world hunger as a result of overpopulation and of natural disasters such as floods and droughts.
Overpopulation does contribute to malnutrition .In many communities of the less-developed world the birth rate is high and many people compete for too little food .The chronically poor , however , often see their children as a valuable workforce and their only support in their old age .Children are not seen as additional mouths to feed , even though the density of population may prevent the region from becoming self-supporting.
On a world scale , food production is successful ;there have been spectacular improvements in the production of cereals (wheat , rice , millet and so on).The crisis exists because of the uneven distribution of food .Excess cereals are produced in North America and in Europe , whereas the deficiency occurs in the developing countries largely in the southern hemisphere .Furthermore , many developing countries give over land to grow food items such as tea , coffee and cocoa for export to developed industrialized countries.
Food items are exported to earn the international currency to pay for manufactured imports , and to pay interests on existing debts.
Does ‘weather' contribute to famine?
Sometimes freak weather conditions such as the severe hurricanes of tropical and subtropical regions , do threaten agriculture production. On the other hand , so-called “natural disasters” such as the very severe flooding experienced in tropical lowlands , may results from human actions. For example there is some evidence that deforestation causes flooding after heavy hill rains , and leads indirectly to desertification. Another example is the loss of food farming land and of the food produced there as a result of a steady drift to the cities and towns by farmers and peasants.

Malnutrition in developed world

Obesity

Obesity is the most prevalent form of malnutrition in affluent societies . Many overweight people consume too many nutrients in relation to their energy expenditure . Obesity is a medical and public health problem for people in all age groups in developed countries . Obese people suffer an excess mortality proportion to the extent of excess weight .they are vulnerable to diabetes , hypertension and coronary heart disease
There are problems in defining what is normal body weight and therefore in defining what constitutes being ‘over weight’ and ‘obese’ . The most widely accepted means of assessing obesity is the body mass index
Body mass index(BMI)=Body mass index divide by height (in m )square
A BMI of 25 +indicates that a person is overweight , and one of 30+ indicates obesity.

'Slimmer’s diseases’

Some body fat is essential for health, but a few individuals develop an aversion to food , and take steps to reduce their weight. The conditions known as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are thought to be on the increase , particularly among young Caucasian from middle or upper social classes. In anorexia , deliberate dieting and sometimes deliberate vomiting , lead to serious weight loss and even the loss of consecutive menstrual cycles. Patients have an obsessive fear of gaining weight or becoming fat; they see themselves as much fatter than they actually are.
In bulimia , periods of excessive eating (binge eating) are followed by self-induced vomiting and use of laxatives to achieve weight control .Here patients do not necessarily lose excessive weight ant their menstrual cycles remain normal.
These two conditions are believed to have more to do with anxiety about maturation and sexuality than with diet in many cases.

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a lipid used to synthesize steroid hormones in the adrenal glands and gonads and is an essential component of the plasma membranes of cells .Cholesterol is taken in the diet in meat , dairy products (in butter fat) and eggs but also manufactured in liver if insufficient is eaten. Cholesterol is transported around the body in the plasma combined with proteins as lipoprotein. A high level of blood cholesterol is the cause of coronary heart disease because lipoproteins pass through the lining of arteries and lead to fatty/fibrous deposits causing atherosclerosis. If the diet is low in saturated fats, if obesity is avoided and the total fat intake is kept low , the need to transport fats in plasma is minimized and the danger of atherosclerosis is reduced.
Alcohol

The favorite (and often acceptable )mood-altering drug of many human societies is alcohol. A small amount of alcohol may be beneficial rather than harmful. But persistent over-consumption increases the risk of harm to almost every body function. Alcohol abuse is a significant underlying cause of serious illness and death in the adult population.

Fruit and vegetables

These components of diet have been recommended for the roughage content they provide , but it is now known that diets rich in fresh fruit and lightly cooked or uncooked vegetables (five helpings a day) substantially reduce the risks of several forms of cancer , included cancers of breast , large intestine , stomach and prostate. Diets high is fibre also affect the rate of absorption of sugar and are correlated with lower incidence of diabetes.

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