Nutritional Diseases in Humans

Nutritional diseases in humans are disorders caused by an imbalance in nutrition and fall into one of three categories. There are nutritional diseases caused by a lack of nutrients, while others that have excess nutrients. Other nutritional diseases are the result of poisonous components in foods. Nutritional diseases can result in death. A recent eFlux Media article notes that about one out of three deaths in children, worldwide, is due to nutritional diseases. That's about 3.5 million deaths annually.

Nutritional Deficieny

Nutritional deficiency occurs when someone takes in nutrients that are lacking for normal body functioning. For example, for proper bone development and protein needed for muscles and energy, the body needs to take in various nutrients including calcium and phosphorus. Nutritional needs change as a human body grows, as well as for pregnant women and elderly people. Other people at risk for nutritional deficiency diseases are vegans, vegetarians, drug addicts and people on fad diets. Nutritional deficiency symptoms may include appetite loss, amnesia, anorexia, dementia, weakness and bruising.

Diseases Caused by Nutrional Deficiency

One of the most well known examples of disease caused by nutritional shortage is scurvy. A disease where bones lose rigidity because of inadequate vitamin C in the diet, scurvy occurred often among sailors on long voyages who lacked proper nutrition. After hundreds of year, it was discovered that eating limes, high in vitamin C, could cure scurvy. Other diseases resulting from nutritional deficiency include rickets and beriberi, caused by scarcity of vitamin B (thiamine).

Modern Nutritional Diseases

Modern diseases caused by nutritional problems have replaced older diseases such as scurvy and beriberi, which mainly occurred years ago. According to public health scientists and authors Alice and Fred Ottoboni, modern nutritional diseases such as stroke, cancer, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity are increasing. The Ottobonis, who wrote "The Modern Nutritional Diseases," believe this is largely due to poor nutrition.

Nutritional Excess and Obesity

Nutritional excess can be caused by overeating, as well as excess intake of vitamins or not enough exercise. The most common result of nutritional excess is obesity. Obesity can be caused by a large consumption of foods high in fat. However, other factors can play a role such as pregnancy and damage of the hypothalamus, which is the part of the brain controlling appetite. Other causes may include medications and psychological facts, as well as hormonal imbalances. Generally nutritional excess is diagnosed using the body mass index (BMI). The BMI represents someone's weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of his height (in meters). According to The Cornell Illustrated Encyclopedia of Health, people who have a BMI ranging between 25 and 30 are considered overweight, with a BMI more than 30 indicating obesity.

Poisonous Components Causing Nutritional Disorders

Toxic or poisonous elements found in foods make up a third category of nutritional diseases. Natural examples of poisonous elements are fungi. On the other hand, they can be artificially produced such as pollutants, pesticides or fertilizers. Poisonous elements may also be the result of over consuming too many vitamins and minerals such as those found in supplements sold in health food and drugstores. Some vitamins that can be toxic when taken in excess include vitamins A, B6, C, D, E, niacin and folic acid. Minerals such as nickel, arsenic and chromium can eventually cause cancer. Also, all trace vitamins are toxic.

History

The problem of nutritional diseases in humans wasn't the growing concern that it has become in the 20th and 21st centuries. Before then, people didn't get their food from grocers, but instead traded their whole foods grown on family farms for foods made by food processing industries. Then around the late 19th and early 20th century, changes were made in diets. As more and more people left farms and moved to cities, food had to be purchased from grocery stores. As a result, many nutrients were lost in food processing, causing foods to be filled with empty calories.

References

• efluxmedia.com, "Malnutrition Causes 3.5 Million Child Daths Every Year"
• "The Modern Nutritional Diseases"; Alice and Fred Ottoboni; 2002
• regnerycom, "The Cornell Illustrated Encyclopedia of Health"