Health Related Causes of Undernutrition

Text extracted from

The World Food Problem

Leathers & Foster, 2004

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Health and Nutrition

• Poor nutrition leads to poor health

• AND

• Poor health leads to poor nutrition

• Vicious cycle

Girl with Marasmus in Darfur, Sudan

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Infections also cause Malnutrition

• Loss of appetite– Intolerance of food

• Cultural factors– Substitution of less

nutritious diet when sick

• Body loss of protein– Used to fight

infection

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Disease and dietary deficiencies

• Keratomalacia: Blindness – Vitamin A deficiency

• Scurvy: Soft gums– Vitamin C deficiency

• Beri-beri: Nerve inflamation– Vitamin B1 deficiency

• Pellagra: Skin disorder– Niacin deficiency

• Anemia: Blood disorder– Iron, B12 deficiency Pellagra

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Diarrhea and Nutrition

• Diarrhea most common infection causing undernutrion– Kwashiorkor induced by

diarrhea

• Worst in children under 5

• Diarrhea reduces– Water– Salts

• Fatal if dehydration > 15%– 60-70% diarrhea deaths caused

by dehydration

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Causes of Diarrhea

• Rotavirus

• Cholera

• Shigella

• Samonella

• Parasites

• Etc.

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Rotavirus Diarrhea

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Oral Rehydration Therapy

• Diarrheal salt loss cannot be corrected by drinking salt water– More fluid pulled from

body into intestine

• If add sugar to salt, – sugar crosses intestinal

lining

– pulls salt into bodySigns of dehydration

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Oral Rehydration Therapy

• “The cheapest and most effective health intervention that can be implemented in the home to decrease childhood mortality”– UNICEF

Diluted salt water with sugar

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Malnutrition Exacerbates Infection

• Philippine children with respiratory infection were 13x more likely to die– if malnourished

• Malnutrition aggravates– Intestinal diseases

– Worms

– ParasitesPhilippine Children

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Malnutition Exacerbates Infection

• Malnutrition most common cause of immune system deficiencies– Decreases in

• white cell response• Interferon• skin integrity• Mucous membranes• Tissue replacement, repair

• Children with PEM– Atrophied thymus– poor T cell productionWhite blood cell surrounded

by red blood cells

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Malnutrition reduces Stamina

• Reduced capacity to cope with life

• Reduced job performance

• Reduced income for– Healthcare

– Transportation to clinics

– MedicinesUganda Health Clinic

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