Malnutrition causes and its effects on the victim

An all inclusive nutritional provision is important in correct balances.

It is mostly advisable to improve on nutritional intake ensuring enough of all necessary nutrient groups are consumed.

Provision of fortified foods has also been widely used as a measure to supplement for the lacking nutrients in the body.

Humanitarian aid organizations also lobby for food donations to affected regions, cash for purchase of fertilizers to improve on agricultural food production and also for financing irrigation.

Life Expectancy and Mortality

Reduction in mortality rates have been reported to increase in the recent past with cases that are related malnutrition. Out of a group of 12 one is malnourished according to reports. Over 36 million people died of micro nutrients deficiency related diseases and hunger in 2006.

The World Health Organization has malnutrition in its front least as an imminent cause of child mortality in almost half of overall cases.  1.4 million Deaths of children are resultant from lack or poor breast feeding practices while, 2.2 million deaths in children is as a result of inter-uterine growth restrictions and under weight births.

Vitamin A and zinc deficiencies account for about 1 million deaths. The Lancet sees malnutrition as irreversible in the initial 2 years and that malnutrition lowers the health standards and educational prowess of the malnourished child.

Disease

Other than the prominently pronounced malnutrition health conditions such as pneumonia, measles and diarrhea, malnutrition has been identified to be a disease causer as well and could be very fatal.

Disease prone rate to infection is high in those who have malnutrition conditions and could promote the onset of an infection of a disease like tuberculosis. This can also be high in areas where proper hygiene is not practiced and even clean water is not available.

Malnutrition has an effect on the brain functioning. It makes one to be weak and unable to engage in activities that require high level of energy to perform and they end up unable to economically provide for themselves, fend for their own food and even acquire education.

Determinant Factors

Dietary Practices

Malnutrition in children came as a result of lack breastfeeding. This is mostly evident in the developing world where preferences are made on alternative feeding methods for infants. It is also almost unavoidable in cases where health conditions of a mother do not allow her to breast feed the child as seen in the HIV era.

Insufficient nutritional education makes one to be less informed on how to balance their diets leading to over dependency on one good group and missing out on nutrients offered from other food sources. This overindulgence could lead to health issues related to weight like obesity, especially if sweet fatty sources are involved.

Poverty

The less developed countries experience this factor the most as it affects their purchasing power of nutritious foods and eventually end up as victims of malnutrition. Increases in food costs and lack of any realistic increase in income levels have left most people caught up in between low incomes and malnutrition risks.

Lack of technology also plays a role in the poor countries as they are unable to stock up food for the future or even transport them to the affected regions at appropriate times. Individuals are not able to access the areas with sufficiency because of these infrastructural barriers.

Food Shortages

Floods and droughts have played major roles in reducing the supply of food in many regions of the world and this has resultantly brought about the rise of malnutrition cases in affected areas.

Poor agricultural practices have lowered productivity of food crops and this in turn has negative effect on feeding. If modern technology and agricultural skills can not be put in place, due to resource limitation and poverty, agricultural yields continue to go down and malnutrition is almost in-escapable.

Global Factors

 Global factors such as sunctions that are being made on the supply and distribution of fertilizers due to claimed environmental effects by environmentalists lead to reduced food supplies and subsequent increase in malnutrition cases.

Global warming has caused great changes in temperatures affecting temperature requirements for growing of some food crops and rearing of livestock leading to drastic drop on food availability. Cases of failed harvests have been on the rise as well as those of livestock deaths. This has brought about great food insecurity and malnutrition consequences.

The production of wheat all over the world has been affected by the invasion of Ug99 which causes stem rust. It has affected approximately 80% of wheat crop world wide and malnutrition is a possible result.

Most agricultural crops get pollinated by bees and the mass death of bees due to colony collapse disorder that attacked the bees is giving warning alerts on food supply and possible influx of malnutrition cases.

Measures

Money aids

World aid organizations have decided to go into a revolutionary measure in dealing with food shortages by giving cash aid. It has discovered that cash aid is convenient to reach less developed areas with poor infrastructure and areas with cheap food supply by concurring with mobile phone providers like Safaricom in Kenya. It is easy to send money from anywhere to anyone wherever they are for use in purchase of food.

Fortification

Malnutrition can also be tackled by getting fortified foods for relief in drought stricken regions. Micronutrient supplements rank highest at Copenhagen Consensus and are seen to be a cheap means for giving better health fast. Fortified food is mostly packed in ready to eat forms and do not need further preparation where they could get contaminated.

Employment

Employment provides income to ensure healthy provision for more people.

Micro-Credits

Loans to farmers on farm inputs like fertilizers will increase food production and have a positive effect on malnutrition control.

Education (breast feeding, nutrition,)

Good education on nutritional requirements will create awareness on the same and bring down malnutrition cases.

Family planning

Birth control measures are important so as to cut down on costs of those to be supported and would bring down the numbers of malnutrition cases.

Research and Science

Micro nutrition discovery has been there since the early twentieth century and has helped in the cure of various nutrient deficiency diseases with further studies still ongoing to fully understand the nutritive dimensions on disease causes and management by nutritional scientists and physicians.

Early findings of micro nutrient deficiencies in the body determined the causes of malnutritional diseases and identified responsible nutrients for the conditions

-         Beta carotene Vitamin A is under research in regard to having long term lowering effects of the increasing infection resistance and acquisition of cancer. Studies are also being made on its relation in the treatment if AIDs. It has been found that beta carotene is safer vitamin A version than the earlier used form known as retinol. Some of its sources are spinach, broccoli, collards, sweet potatoes, kale, green turnips, carrots and from yet a varied range of vegetables. These researches are carried out at the Harvard by the Department of Medicine.        

-         Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) supplement has a lessening and an effective preventive effect on cancer treatment and on colds. 60mg is recommended for adults while smokers are recommended to a dose of 100 mg by the National research council.

-         Rickets is as a result of Vitamin D deficiency.

-         Marasmus caused by protein deficiency.

-         Kwashiorkor is due to lack of proteins.

-         Beri beri lack of vitamin B1 (thiamine).

-         Scurvy is associated with Vitamin C deficiency.

-         Goiter is due to iodine deficiency.

-         Anemia is as a result of iron deficiency.

-         Pellagra as a result of niacin (vitaminB3) deficiency.