Malnutrition

Question

This piglix contains articles or sub-piglix about Malnutrition

Answer 1

Refugees in Cameroon

In 2007, Cameroon hosted a total population of refugees and asylum seekers of approximately 97,400. Of these, 49,300 were from the Central African Republic (many driven west by war), 41,600 from Chad, and 2,900 from Nigeria. Kidnappings of Cameroonian citizens by Central African bandits have increased since 2005.

Between 2004 and 2013, 92,000 refugees from the Central African Republic fled to Cameroon "to escape rebel groups and bandits in the north of their country."

In 2014, Cameroon had an estimated 44,000 refugees from Nigeria. Internal Cameroonian refugees also began to leave areas bordering Nigeria to escape Boko Haram violence, especially following the December 2014 Cameroon clashes.

In January 2015, many schools in the Far North Region did not re-open immediately after the Christmas vacation following the December 2014 Cameroon clashes, and it was reported that "thousands of teachers, students and pupils have fled schools located along the border due to bloody confrontations between the Cameroon military and suspected Boko Haram militants." The Cameroonian military has deployed forces to ensure safety for students attending schools.

As of 30 October 2013, IRIN reports:

"There are 8,128 Nigerian refugees in Cameroon's Far North Region, but only 5,289 are registered by UNHCR ...

Many of the Nigerians who have fled into Cameroon prefer to stay with friends and family near the border areas.

The refugee population fleeing from Boko Haram are scattered in very inaccessible localities in the north of Cameroon, and many who refuse to be registered and stay in camps are still at the mercy of the [Boko Haram] sect, and are seen as threat to local security," said UNHCR's Hamon.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 2

Starvation

Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake needed to maintain human life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death. The term inanition refers to the symptoms and effects of starvation. Starvation may also be used as a means of torture or execution.

According to the World Health Organization, hunger is the single gravest threat to the world's public health. The WHO also states that malnutrition is by far the biggest contributor to child mortality, present in half of all cases. Undernutrition is a contributory factor in the death of 3.1 million children under five every year. Figures on actual starvation are difficult to come by, but according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the less severe condition of undernourishment currently affects about 842 million people, or about one in eight (12.5%) people in the world population.

The bloated stomach, as seen in the adjacent picture, represents a form of malnutrition called kwashiorkor which is caused by insufficient protein despite a sufficient caloric intake. Children are more vulnerable to kwashiorkor, advanced symptoms of which include weight loss and muscle wasting.

Causes of hunger are related to poverty. There are inter-related issues causing hunger, which are related to economics and other factors that cause poverty. They include land rights, and ownership, diversion of land use to non productive use, increasing emphasis on export oriented agriculture, inefficient agricultural practices, war, famine, drought, over fishing, poor crop yield, etc.

The basic cause of starvation is an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. In other words, the body expends more energy than it takes in. This imbalance can arise from one or more medical conditions or circumstantial situations, which can include:

...

Wikipedia

Answer 3

Starvation response

Starvation response in animals is a set of adaptive biochemical and physiological changes that reduce metabolism in response to a lack of food.

Equivalent or closely related terms include famine response, starvation mode, famine mode, starvation resistance, starvation tolerance, adapted starvation, adaptive thermogenesis, fat adaptation, and metabolic adaptation.

Starvation contributes to tolerance during infection, as nutrients become limited when they are sequestered by host defenses and consumed by proliferating bacteria. One of the most important causes of starvation induced tolerance in vivo is biofilm growth, which occurs in many chronic infections. Starvation in biofilms is due to nutrient consumption by cells located on the periphery of biofilm clusters and by reduced diffusion of substrates through the biofilm. Biofilm bacteria shows extreme tolerance to almost all antibiotic classes, and supplying limiting substrates can restore sensitivity.

Starvation mode is a state in which the body is responding to prolonged periods of low energy intake levels. During short periods of energy abstinence, the human body will burn primarily free fatty acids from body fat stores, along with small amounts of muscle tissue to provide required glucose for the brain. After prolonged periods of starvation the body has depleted its body fat and begins to burn primarily lean tissue and muscle as a fuel source.

Ordinarily, the body responds to reduced energy intake by burning fat reserves and consuming muscle and other tissues. Specifically, the body burns fat after first exhausting the contents of the digestive tract along with glycogen reserves stored in liver cells. After prolonged periods of starvation, the body will utilize the proteins within muscle tissue as a fuel source. People who practice fasting on a regular basis, such as those adhering to energy restricted diets, can prime their bodies to abstain from food while reducing the amount of muscle burned.

The magnitude and composition of the starvation response (i.e. metabolic adaptation) was estimated in a study of 8 individuals living in isolation in Biosphere 2 for two years. During their isolation, they gradually lost an average of 15% (range: 9–24%) of their body weight due to harsh conditions. On emerging from isolation, the eight isolated individuals were compared with a 152-person control group that initially had had similar physical characteristics. On average, the starvation response of the individuals after isolation was a 180 kCal reduction in daily total energy expenditure. 60 kCal of the starvation response was explained by a reduction in fat-free mass and fat mass. An additional 65 kCal was explained by a reduction in fidgeting. The remaining 55 kCal was statistically insignificant.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 4

Stunted growth

Stunted growth

Stunted growth, also known as stunting and nutritional stunting, is a reduced growth rate in human development. It is a primary manifestation of malnutrition (or more precisely undernutrition) and recurrent infections, such as diarrhea and helminthiasis, in early childhood and even before birth, due to malnutrition during fetal development brought on by a malnourished mother. The definition of stunting according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) is for the "height for age" value to be less than two standard deviations of the WHO Child Growth Standards median.

As of 2012 an estimated 162 million children under 5 years of age, or 25%, were stunted in 2012. More than 90% of the world's stunted children live in Africa and Asia, where respectively 36% and 56% of children are affected. Once established, stunting and its effects typically become permanent. Stunted children may never regain the height lost as a result of stunting, and most children will never gain the corresponding body weight. Living in an environment where many people defecate in the open due to lack of sanitation, is an important cause of stunted growth in children, for example in India.

Stunted growth in children has the following public health impacts apart from the obvious impact of shorter stature of the person affected:

The impact of stunting on child development has been established through multiple studies. If a child is stunted at age 2 they will have higher risk of poor cognitive and educational achievement in life, with subsequent socio-economic and inter-generational consequences. Multi-country studies have also suggested that stunting is associated with reductions in schooling, decreased economic productivity and poverty. Stunted children also display higher risk of developing chronic non-communicable conditions such as diabetes and obesity as adults. If a stunted child undergoes substantial weight gain after age 2, there is a higher chance of becoming obese. This is believed to be caused by metabolic changes produced by chronic malnutrition, that can produce metabolic imbalances if the individual is exposed to excessive or poor quality diets as an adult. This can lead to higher risk of developing other related non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, metabolic syndrome and stroke. At societal level, stunted individuals do not fulfill their physical and cognitive developmental potential and will not be able to contribute maximally to society. Stunting can therefore limit economic development and productivity, and it has been estimated that it can affect a country’s GDP up to 3%.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 5

Tea and toast syndrome

Tea and toast syndrome is a form of malnutrition experienced by elderly people who are unable to prepare meals and tend to themselves. Their diets often dwindle to tea and toast resulting in a deficiency of vitamins and other nutrients. The syndrome often manifests itself as hyponatremia, a deficit of sodium, due to the lack of salt in the diet.

The syndrome often occurs once children have moved away, and a partner has died. An elderly person with nobody left to cook for, or without the skills to cook will revert to a diet of simple foods such as bread, cheese and crackers, and tinned foods.

Factors that lead to the syndrome include social isolation, psychological issues such as depression, illness and physical limitations.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 6

Tropical sprue

Tropical sprue

Tropical sprue is a malabsorption disease commonly found in tropical regions, marked with abnormal flattening of the villi and inflammation of the lining of the small intestine. It differs significantly from coeliac sprue. It appears to be a more severe form of environmental enteropathy.

The illness usually starts with an attack of acute diarrhoea, fever and malaise following which, after a variable period, the patient settles into the chronic phase of diarrhoea, steatorrhoea, weight loss, anorexia, malaise and nutritional deficiencies. The symptoms of tropical sprue are:

Left untreated, nutrient and vitamin deficiencies may develop in patients with tropical sprue. These deficiencies may have the following symptoms:

The cause of tropical sprue is not known. It has been suggested that it may be caused by persistent bacterial, viral, amoebal, or parasitic infection.Folic acid deficiency, effects of malabsorbed fat on intestinal motility, and persistent small intestinal bacterial overgrowth may combine to cause the disorder.

Diagnosis of tropical sprue can be complicated because many diseases have similar symptoms. The following investigation results are suggestive:

Tropical sprue is largely limited to within about 30 degrees north and south of the equator. Recent travel to this region is a key factor in diagnosing this disease in residents of countries outside of that geographical region.

Other conditions which can resemble tropical sprue need to be differentiated.Coeliac disease (also known as coeliac sprue or gluten sensitive enteropathy), has similar symptoms to tropical sprue, with the flattening of the villi and small intestine inflammation and is caused by an autoimmune disorder in genetically susceptible individuals triggered by ingested gluten. Malabsorption can also be caused by protozoan infections, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, immunodeficiency, chronic pancreatitis and inflammatory bowel disease.Environmental enteropathy is a less severe, subclinical condition similar to tropical sprue.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 7

Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition

Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition

The Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition was adopted on 16 November 1974, by governments who attended the 1974 World Food Conference that was convened under General Assembly resolution 3180 (XXVIII) of 17 December 1973. It was later endorsed by General Assembly resolution 3348 (XXIX), of 17 December 1974. This Declaration combined discussions of the international human right to adequate food and nutrition with an acknowledgement of the various economic and political issues that can affect the production and distribution of food related products. Within this Declaration, it is recognised that it is the common purpose of all nations to work together towards eliminating hunger and malnutrition. Further, the Declaration explains how the welfare of much of the world’s population depends on their ability to adequately produce and distribute food. In doing so, it emphasises the need for the international community to develop a more adequate system to ensure that the right to food for all persons is recognised. The opening paragraph of the Declaration, which remains to be the most recited paragraph of the Declaration today, reads:

“Every man, woman and child has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition in order to develop fully and maintain their physical and mental faculties.”

The Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition affirmed that it is a fundamental human right to be free from hunger and malnutrition, so that one can develop both their mental and physical faculties fully. This Declaration arose out of ever-growing concerns regarding worldwide famine, and in doing so, stressed that every country that is in a position to be able to assist developing nations to gain access to more, better quality food, has the responsibility to ensure that this right to food is realized.

The prevalence of hunger and malnutrition is an issue that has long been of international concern. Although it has been accepted that obtaining exact statistics regarding world hunger is difficult, it is believed that in the early 1960s, there were approximately 900 million undernourished individuals worldwide. The majority of these individuals were located in developing nations in the regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America. It is believed that today, one in every nine individuals do not have adequate access to food. Hunger and malnutrition have now been identified as the cause of more deaths worldwide than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Today it is estimated that there are approximately 1.02 billion people across the world living in conditions of extreme hunger, 1 billion of whom live in developing countries. Hunger and malnutrition have been of growing concern throughout the international community, despite a number of intervention attempts from the likes of States and non-government organisations. The right to food, for example, was asserted in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR), and was again recognised in 1966 through Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

...

Wikipedia

Answer 8

Wernicke%27s encephalopathy

...

Wikipedia