We have learnt the importance of food for the body . It gives us energy to work all day long. But sometimes the body is not able to get sufficient nutrition . This may happen due to poverty or famine.
What is Food Deficiency :
Disease that occur due to lack of one or the other nutrient in the body .
Reasons Causing Deficiency of Food :
Famine
Famine is the condition of extreme food shortages. In such a situation quite a few people die of starvation or suffer due to deficiency diseases. Famines may arises due to natural calamities or due to poor management.
Natural Calamities :
Floods , earthquakes , volcanic eruption and droughts are natural calamities or disasters that majority upset the normal course of life . There is large scale destruction of property and damage of stored and standing crops . This leads to shortage of food supply . Sometimes , people are stuck in places where it is difficult to supply food. Numerous deaths are reported due to food shortage in such cases.
Poor Management :
Poor management is a man-made cause of food shortage. It may be due to several reasons :
- Poverty Poor people do not have enough money and resources to buy food. Also their families are mostly large and the meagre quantity of food is mostly insufficient to provide for all.
Poverty ki pic
- Hoarding and Black Marketing Sometimes the shopkeepers hide the stock of food grains and create an artificial shortage of food . This is called hoarding . Because of shortage of food grains , there is chaos in the market . At this time the same shopkeepers begin to sell their products at a higher price . This is called black marketing. Both hoarding and Black Marketing are considered as crime and if reported are punishable by law .
Ration shop ki pic
Deficiency Diseases :
The World Health Organization or WHO has provided a list of nutrients that are required by each individual to maintain a physically and mentally healthy body . It is said that ‘ in a healthy body resides a healthy mind’.
According to this list called the – Recommended Dietary Allowances or RDA , a person getting nutrients below the Recommended levels will develop a deficiency in his/her body. It is said to know that many people in our country do not even get one simple meal of dal and roti in a day , sometimes even for week . Such people develop deficiency diseases.
Prevention and cure of deficiency diseases :
| Deficiency Diseases | Deficiency Nutrients | Symptoms | Foods providing deficient nutrients |
| Marasmus | proteins , fats and carbohydrates | The child becomes so thin that loose folds of skin can be seen all over the body. | Rice , wheat , potatoes , maize , eggs. Fish , meat , nuts and honey |
| Kwashiorkor | Proteins | The abdomen of the child gets swollen and bulges out . The legs become thin . | milk , eggs , fish , meat and pulses. |
Deficiency Diseases are also caused by a Deficiency of vitamins and minerals .
| Deficiency Diseases | Deficiency Nutrients | Symptoms | Food providing deficient nutrients |
| Night blindness | vitamin A | The person cannot see in dim light | carrot , mango , papya , butter , milk |
| Beri-beri | Vitamin B | Skin becomes dry and scaly , extreme , weakness , affects the nervous system and the muscles. | milk , eggs , meat , green leafy vegetables |
| Scurvy | Vitamin C | Swelling and bleeding of gums | Citrus fruits (lemon , orange , amla ) !and tomatoes |
| Ricket | Vitamin D | Bowed legs , deformed bones , stunted growth | milk , fish , egg |
| Anemia | Iron | The blood carries less oxygen in the body resulting in paleness , tiredness , loss of appetite and weight. | eggs , pulses , green , leafy vegetables , cereals. |
| Goitre | Iodine | Swelling of the thyroid gland ( near the neck ) | Fish , sea-food and iodised salt. |
