Health Related Causes of Undernutrition

1
Health Related Causes of Undernutrition

• Text extracted from
• The World Food Problem
• Leathers Foster, 2004

http//www.lastfirst.net/images/product/R004548.jp
g
2
Health and Nutrition

• Poor nutrition leads to poor health
• AND
• Poor health leads to poor nutrition
• Vicious cycle

Malnourished boy in Angola
3
Infections 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

Hepatophilic Virus
4
Infections 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

Scurvy
5
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 gt 15
• 60-70 diarrhea deaths caused by dehydration

6
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 body

7
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
8
Malnutrition Exacerbates Infection

• Philippine children with respiratory infection
  were 13x more likely to die if malnourished
• Malnutrition aggravates
• Intestinal diseases
• Worms
• Parasites

Philippine Children
9
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 production

White blood cell surrounded by red blood cells
10
Malnutrition reduces Stamina

• Reduced capacity to cope with life
• Reduced job performance
• Reduced income for
• Healthcare
• Transportation to clinics
• Medicines

Gambia Pharmacy