Deficiency Causing Diseases

Wherever there is poverty there is malnutrition, which means that this problem is present in the entire world, even in the more favored countries. Children fail to gain weight and adults appear old and withered. Even the youth show evidence of loss of weight, with skin wrinkled and arms shrunk to skin and bones. Careful examination reveals that they also suffer from bone deformities skin lesions, and anemia. In extreme cases the abdomen is distended but this condition is seen only in times of war or absolute famine.

Even where food is available in abundance people may still suffer from malnutrition due to certain imperfect dietary habits. Using tobacco and alcohol in any form will result in loss of appetite. The habits of eating sweets and taking food between meals should be avoided if one desires to cultivate a good appetite. A diet high in carbohydrates needs to be supplemented with adequate vitamins and proteins. Special care should be taken in cases of pregnant women and nursing mothers, for these conditions people should make heavy nutritional demands on the system. One of the greatest problems facing nutritionists is the popular use in many countries of foods deficient in essential vitamins, minerals and proteins. Modern refining processes commonly rob food of these important elements; as a result a numbers of people suffer from diseases of malnutrition.

If the diet is deficient in one element it is then must be deficient in others also. The total result of such a diet is often a bizarre group of complaints that add up to no definite diagnosis. For this reason it is often necessary to prescribe tablets containing all the vitamins and also the essential mineral and other nutritional elements. There are also a number of problems related to specific nutritional deficiencies in certain particular areas. People who are on a tea and toast diet, such as the elderly, will definitely suffer from a deficiency. Chronic alcoholics that pay little attention to their nutritional needs and vegans, who eat absolutely no animal proteins, will also be deficient in the B12 vitamin.

Mal-absorption is another primary cause for a deficiency in dietary nutrition. Such problems as atrophic gastritis, pernicious anemia, ulcers and acid reflux disease can cause problems. Medications such as Prevacid and Nexium will deplete the body of vitamin B12 over time. Chronic disorders such as diarrhea, peptic ulcers, Crohn's disease, along with patients who have had a history of intestinal surgeries and small bowel infestations of tapeworm or other intestinal parasites will have deficiency.

Vitamin B12 is taken into the stomach and is treated by the gastro-intestinal enzyme which the stomach cells secrete to make it more absorbable in the lower intestine. If people are lacking the enzyme or hydrochloric acid as many people do, from middle age on, they cannot absorb enough of the vitamin B12. At this point it is necessary to take supplements and/or get the proper vitamins shots on a daily or weekly or monthly basis.

Now people can get some supplements to build up their system. However, before they start to self medicate them and take any supplements; they truly recommended calling their primary physician to get a blood test, to see if they are deficient. A blood test is very inexpensive and will bring them up to date on how well their blood and they are doing.

• John Palsson
• 21/11/2008, 12:08 AM
• 0 Comments