What is malnutrition ? Explain some nutrition deficiency diseases.
A. Eating of food that does not have one or more than one nutrients in required amount is known as malnutrition. Poor health, willfull starvation, lack of awareness of nutritional habits, socio - economic factors are all the reasons for malnutrition.
Malnutrition is of three types :
- Calorie malnutrition, 2) Protein malnutrition, 3) Protein calorie malnutrition.
1) Kwashiorkor disease:
This is due to protein deficiency in diet. Body parts become swollen due to accumulation of water in the intercellular spaces. Very poor muscle development, swollen legs, fluffy face, difficult to eat, diarrhoea, dry skin are the symptoms of this disease.
2) Marasmus :
This is due to deficiency of both proteins and calories. Generally this disease occurs when there is an immediate second pregnancy or repeated child births. Lean and weak, swelling limbs, less developed muscles, dry skin, diarrhoea, etc., are the symptoms of this disease.