Best Friend, Disease: Revision

Alex Mortberg
Professor Clapham
English 1001-126
9 December 2014
Malnutrition’s Best Friend, Disease: Revision
Malnutrition is more detrimental than the average person realizes. People assume that malnutrition only pertains to developing countries and that it’s due to poverty; however, malnutrition is everywhere and waiting to grip onto its next victims. It affects people around the world no matter what color skin or gender they are; malnutrition can affect anyone. Malnutrition affects the immune system of the body, which causes diseases to flourish. “Malnutrition is a state of nutrition in which a deficiency or excess (or imbalance) of energy, protein and other nutrients causes measurable adverse effects on tissue/body form (body shape,
size and composition) and function and clinical outcome” (“Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency”). Therefore, malnutrition does not just entitle under-nutrition; it also includes over-nutrition, known as obesity. I will be presenting research from various reputable sources to demonstrate the severities behind this global issue. The research conducted is meant to present evidence behind malnutrition and to demonstrate how it is linked with disease and ways to prevent it around the world.
There are several types of malnutrition that plague people worldwide, including iron, vitamin A, iodine and zinc deficiency; these are ranked among the World Health Organization’s prominent causes of death through disease in developing countries. Iron deficiency is the leading form of malnutrition across the world. Iron is a crucial component of the hemoglobin protein found in blood; it carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues in the body, which having an iron deficiency instigates lethargy and easy exhaustion. If not treated adequately, iron deficiency can lead to iron deficiency anemia, which is the reduction of hemoglobin manufacturing. “Severe iron deficiency anemia is causing the deaths of an estimated 50,000 young women a year in pregnancy and childbirth” (“Vitamin & Mineral Deficiency”). According to a report on the deficiency of Vitamins and Minerals, Unicef, iterates that iron deficiency hinders the mental development in the 6-to-24 month age group of children in developing countries by 40 to 60 percent.
Next, an estimated one million children each year die prematurely due to vitamin A deficiency; it compromises the immune system of roughly 163 million children in the developing world’s under-fives, which is why so many premature deaths occur. “A deficiency in vitamin A, for example, increases the risk of dying from diarrhea, measles and malaria by 20 percent-to-24 percent” (“World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide”). Malnutrition is linked to an increase of about a quarter of a chance to die from certain diseases.
Along with vitamin A deficiency that weakens an immune system, so does zinc deficiency. “Zinc deficiency contributes to growth failure and weakened immunity in young children. It is linked to a higher risk of diarrhea and pneumonia, resulting in nearly 800,000 deaths per year” (“World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide”). Not having the right levels of zinc and vitamin A dramatically decreases the effectiveness of the immune system, increasing the chances for diseases to maturate.
Finally, iodine deficiency affects the most people worldwide, roughly 780 million people. “Iodine deficiency is estimated to have lowered the intellectual capacity of almost all of the nations reviewed by as much as 10 to 15 percentage points” (“Vitamin & Mineral Deficiency”). Iodine is a mineral the body needs to make thyroid hormones; these hormones control the body’s metabolism, along with proper bone and brain development in pregnancy and infancy. “Iodine deficiency in pregnancy is causing as many as 20 million babies a year to be born mentally impaired” (“Vitamin & Mineral Deficiency”). To impair the devastation iodine deficient people have to endure, salt has become iodized in order to supplement the mineral to those where food lacks iodine. The iodization of salt has decreased the amount of people who are iodine deficient effectively. All of the mentioned nutrient deficiencies, each, bring about their own symptoms.
Malnutrition has various symptoms that come about with it, such as: loss of appetite, weight loss, tiredness, loss of energy, reduced ability to perform normal tasks, reduced physical performance, altered mood, poor concentration and poor child development.
Malnutrition is especially a concern in regards to children because it interferes with mental and physical development of the child. If children do not get adequate mental and physical development then the rest of their lives will be affected, granting them an abnormal life. According to the UN’s Standing Committee on Nutrition World Nutrition Situation 5th report, stunting, which is the prevention of growing or developing properly, affects more than 147 million preschoolers in developing countries. The same report also shows that Iodine deficiency accounts for the world’s utmost single cause of mental retardation and brain damage. The World Food Program reports that undernutrition affects school performance and studies have shown it often leads to a lower income as an adult. The research scientists have conducted illuminates the severities that are brought about from malnutrition. Not only does malnutrition affect the immune system to make it weaker, it also affects the central nervous system and the development of the
body.
Many diseases are brought about due to malnutrition. Especially in children, the rate of which diseases affect people is dramatically higher due to a non-developed immune system. Dr. Cameron Grant, of Auckland University and the Starship Children’s Hospital, says, “malnutrition is driving up the rates of Third World diseases among New Zealand children” (Thomas). Without malnutrition affecting children in New Zealand then the percentage of kids who have diseases, especially the Third World diseases, would be dramatically lower.
The fact that malnutrition is driving up the rates of diseases reinforces that malnutrition is a current global health issue that needs to be addressed more seriously.
Dr. Cameron reveals that “in developing countries, five million children a year die of conditions linked to malnutrition such as pneumonia” (Thomas). The conditions that children in developing countries are facing are due to the malnourishment of their bodies. Because the conditions are already present in the children from malnourishment, the steps to counteract the conditions worsen due to a weakened immune system. According to an article in The Economist, “nearly half of India’s small children are malnourished: one of the highest rates of underweight children in the world, higher than most countries in sub-Saharan Africa” (“Putting the Smallest First; Child Malnutrition in India”). Malnutrition puts a toll on India as it is “linked to half of all child deaths and nearly a quarter of cases of disease” (“Putting the Smallest First; Child Malnutrition in
India”).
Not only have New Zealand and India been plagued by malnutrition, so has Asia and the rest of the world, “Asia faces the highest number of not only undernourished people and children in the world but also chronic diseases related to changing lifestyles and poor-quality diets” (Fan, et al). Asia accounts for nearly 67 percent of the global undernourished population, with an estimate 568 million undernourished people (Fan, et al). The research presented about Asia reinforces the notion that malnutrition brings about disease. Malnutrition reduces the immune system’s ability to fight infection, which opens the ability for diseases to fester. “Five infectious diseases—pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles, and AIDS—account for more than one-half of all deaths in children under the age of five” (Katona & Katona). That brings up the question: why are these diseases not as relevant in the United States anymore, but are have a drastic presence in other countries?
The answer to the question lies in treatment. The United States has taken steps to promote good nourishment and to educate the public in how to prevent malnutrition. This is what other countries need to do, which is to educate and supply those in need of help. Diseases will remain thriving in countries that fail to address malnutrition. According to the World Food Program there are two ways to eliminate malnutrition: sustaining the quality and quantity of food a person eats; and ensuring adequate health care and a healthy environment. With the help of world organizations such as the World Health Organization, the World Food Program and Unicef, the problem of malnutrition can be addressed and reversed. Addressing and treating the global health issue of malnutrition will create a widespread development in economic growth and will allow the global health organizations to proceed with other global health issues, enabling the lives of many people by preventing diseases from causing devastation.

Works Cited
"Putting the Smallest First; Child Malnutrition in India." The Economist, 25 Sep. 2010. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.

Fan Shenggen, (et al.). "What Policy Changes Will Reverse Persistent Malnutrition in Asia." The European Journal of Development Research. 2013. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.

Katona, Peter, and Judit Katona-Apte. "The Interaction between Nutrition and Infection." Clinical Infectious Diseases 46.10. (2008). Web. 11 Oct. 2014.

Thomas, Kim. “Serious Illness Rises as Children Poorly Fed; Health Studies.” The Press. 25 November. 2008. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.

"Introduction into Malnutrition." BAPEN. N.p., 19 July 2012. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.

Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency. Rep. Ottawa: Micronutrient Initiative, 2004. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

"World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide." What Is Malnutrition? WFP, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.