Diseases Caused By Deficiencies In The Diet are discussed herein. We hope you find the article informative and helpful for your research.
Nutritional Deficiency Diseases Examples
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There are diseases caused by deficiencies in the diet. Deficiencies in the diet may be acute and readily recognized, or chronic and overlooked except by a clinical examination.
Symptoms of deficiencies in the diet are often slow to show in the early stages. This article will focus on the diseases caused by deficiencies in the diet.
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The health of the epithelial tissues of the body, the tissues lining the alimentary canal, and respiratory organs, depends on a good supply of vitamin A. when there is a deficiency of this vitamin the epithelial cells become hard.
There is a lowered resistance to infections of the respiratory tract, the cornea of the eye, and the alimentary canal, because of the drying and hardening of the mucous membranes.
If insufficient vitamin A is available in the blood for the production of rhodopsin, there is an inability to see in dim light. A long time is needed to adjust to a dull light after exposure to a bright one.
People suffering from night blindness take a long time to get accustomed to darkness after coming from a brightly lit room or after meeting the strong headlights of a car. This disease is called night blindness.
A severe deficiency of vitamin A leads to inflammation and the cells of the cornea become dry. This may be followed by ulceration of the cornea and in the final stage blindness.
This disease is called keratomalacia or xerophthalmia. It is likely that many people in Africa suffer from a mild vitamin A deficiency.
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Recently, the World Health Organization dietary surveys carried out research and came out with the findings that there is a low vitamin A intake by a large part of the population.
It is thought that vitamin A is a factor in the building of sound teeth. Deficiency in vitamin A can lead to rickets, a disease of young children and infants while Osteomalacia is the adult form of rickets and is rarely seen in tropical countries, except in those countries where some of their women maintain a very strict purdah and get a very little sun on their bodies.
Another disease is called Thiamine deficiency. In the world of today, grain meals that are highly refined contain far less thiamine than home-milled grain meals.
When the thiamine intake falls below 2mg for every 1000 eaten, there is a danger of beriberi. If these refined meals are used, foods rich in thiamine content must be eaten as well.
These foods include liver, milk, and egg yolk are good sources of thiamine. The milder forms of beriberi are difficult to diagnose as the symptoms are vague and could be caused by many things, for instance, fatigue, loss of appetite, indigestion, and depression are early signs.
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As the deficiency of this disease builds up, the muscles of the heart become affected there is general degeneration of the nerves which affects the lower limbs and leads to paralysis.
It is therefore of great necessity that one takes precautions on his or her diet to ensure that there are no deficiencies of any kind.
