Malnutrition is a condition in which deficiency or excess of one or more nutrients in diet causes health problems. Nutrients may include protein, vitamins, carbohydrates and minerals etc.
Lack of nutrients is known as under nutrition and excess of nutrients is known as over nutrition. According to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations), about 12.5% people are suffering from malnutrition.
In developing countries, 32.5% people’s diet contains lack of nutrients and at least 14.5% children are dying in the age of 0 to 5 years due to starvation. Now, malnutrition is one of the major challenges faced by Pakistan.
Major types of malnutrition
Malnutrition is of two types: one is protein-energy malnutrition which is caused by due to the deficiency of any or all nutrients and the second one is micronutrient deficiency disease which is caused by the deficiency of specific micronutrients.
Recommended daily intake
A human requires a balanced diet to fulfill the nutrient requirement of the body for better growth and development. For this purpose, recommended daily intake for human is given in table 1.
Table 1: Recommended daily intake
Nutrient | Recommended daily intake |
Energy | 2080 kilocalories |
Protein | 50g |
Fat | 70g |
Saturated fatty acids | 24g |
Carbohydrates | 310g |
Sugar | 90g |
Salt | 2.3g |
Dietary fiber | 30g |
Causes of malnutrition
Major causes of malnutrition in children, may include unawareness of people, poverty, high population rate, food insecurity, improper cooking, dirty water, less production per unit area and loss of much of the food due to poor harvest practices but in Pakistan low family income, high illiteracy rate and large family size are the most important reasons of malnutrition in children especially in small babies.
According to World Food Program, about 43% of Pakistan’s population is facing the issue of food insecurity. In 2015, World Bank Indicators revealed that about 50% population of Pakistan lives below the poverty line. According to estimation, people waste the 40% of food in Pakistan. Improper cooking causes nutrients loss such as vitamin C,vitamin B, iron, iodine, thiamin (B1) and folate (B9) in food which causes malnutrition in people.
Effects of malnutrition
Malnutrition affects many people in the world especially small babies, pregnant women and the students. Inadequate nutrition over a long period of time causes stunted growth, while inadequate nutrition for a smaller period of time leads towards rapid weight loss. The children facing malnutrition are at greater risk of infection and diseases. They do not attain their optimum size as the adults and have brain problems which lead towards lower IQ level.
The students of any institute do not give proper attention on their education due to malnutrition. These students have low immunity which leads towards the higher incidence of infectious diseases and results in more absentees from school, college or university. Pregnant women give the birth to the premature and less-birth-weight babies due to malnutrition. In severe conditions, mortality rate of babies is also increased at labor.
Less body weight babies who survive after birth suffer from growth retardation and illness throughout the childhood as well as adulthood. Iron deficiency causes anemia (a condition in which adequate healthy red blood cells are deficient in human blood cells). In children, malnutrition also causes tiredness, bleeding from gums, decaying of teeth and scaly and dryness of skin.
Diseases
Marasmus, kwashiorkor, anaemia, night blindness, scurvy, depression, rickets and goiter are the important diseases caused by malnutrition. Marasmus is a disease which makes the child thin, weak and lean due to the lack of protein and carbohydrates for a long period of time. Kwashiorkor is a disease caused by only due to the deficiency of protein. Anaemia is caused by the deficiency of iron and vitamins and this disease occurs in pregnant women.
The deficiency of vitamin A causes night blindness and in severe situation, it causes completely loss of vision. Scurvy is a disease in the body of human beings which is caused by the deficiency of vitamin C or ascorbic acid. It inhibits the production of structural protein (collagen) that connects the tissues in the body. Beside this, it also decays skin and gums, forms abnormal teeth and bones and makes the wounds unable to heal soon.
Depression is caused by the deficiency of vitamin B7 or biotin and it leads towards hair loss, mental problems and rashes. The disease caused by the deficiency of vitamin D along with calcium and potassium is called as rickets which makes the bones soft and weak and bowed legs in the human beings. Goiter is caused by the deficiency of iodine. The deficiency of iodine makes the thyroid glands enlarge which in turn causes poor growth and infants’ development in childhood.
Prevention of malfunctions
Educate the women so that they can know about the nutrition and feed their children accordingly. To prevent from marsmus, use skimmed milk, nuts, eggs and fish in a balanced diet. Kwashiorkor is prevented by consuming rice, lentil and eggs in a balanced quantity.
The treatment of anemia is very easy and it can be prevented by consuming iron supplements on regular basis. These supplements include nuts, squashes and bran which are the rich sources of iron. The safest way to prevent the night blindness is the use of carrots and green and leafy vegetables.
Scurvy is prevented by the use of citrus fruits like lemon, strawberry and oranges. To prevent depression, consume dairy items, poultry products, nuts and peanuts which are the rich sources of biotin. To prevent rickets liver, oil, fish and sunlight are the best sources. To prevent the goiter, iodized salt and salt water fish should be consumed on regularly basis.
To prevent the human from these diseases, daily intake of nutrients is very necessary which is given in table 2.
Table 2: Recommended daily intake of nutrients on gender basis.
Nutrients | Recommended Daily intake (per day) |
Sources | |
Men Women | |||
Vitamin A | 0.9mg | 0.7mg | Carrot, milk, sweet potatoes, spinach, apricot |
Thiamin (B1) | 1.2mg | 1.1mg | Wheat, egg, nuts, rice, peas |
Riboflavin (B2) | 1.3mg | 1.1mg | Milk, yogurt, beans, peas, lean meat, nuts, eggs |
Niacin (B3) | 16mg | 14mg | Salmon, ground meat, liver, maize, peas, pumpkin |
Pantothenic acid (B5) | 5mg | 5mg | Egg yolk, milk, lentil, soybean, yogurt, meat, fish |
Pyridoxine (B6) | 1.3mg | 1.3mg | Soybean, fish, chicken, bread, egg, brown rice |
Biotin (B7) | 0.03mg | 0.03mg | Sweet potatoes, dairy products, salmon, nuts, egg yolk, meat |
Folic acid (B9) | 0.4mg | 0.4mg | Orange juice, pastas, rice, spinach, breads |
Cobalamin (B12) | 0.0024mg | 0.0024mg | Trot, beef, animals liver and kidney, saltwater fish |
Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) | 90mg | 75mg | Oranges, lemons, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, strawberry |
Vitamin D | 0.015mg | 0.015mg | Cheese, egg yolk, fish, soy milk, orange juice |
Alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) | 15mg | 15mg | Sunflower oil, soybean oil, sunflower seeds, spinach, broccoli, groundnuts |
Vitamin K | 0.12mg | 0.09mg | Cauliflower, cabbage, fish, meat, eggs, cabbage |
Calcium (Ca) | 1000mg | 1000mg | Beef liver, cheese, egg yolk, soy milk, orange juice |
Magnesium (Mg) | 420mg | 310mg | Spinach, banana, nuts, chickpeas, cabbage, broccoli |
Phosphorus (P) | 700mg | 700mg | Nuts, fish, meat, sunflower seeds, lentil, dairy products |
Potassium (K) | 4700mg | 4700mg | Yogurt, beans, potatoes, orange juice |
Sodium (Na) | 2300mg | 2300mg | Canned meat, fish, beans, chilli |
Sulfur (S) | 13mg | 13mg | Eggs, cow milk, peanuts, almonds, heart and kidney meat, peaches |
Boron (B) | 2.3-4.1mg | 2.3-4.1mg | Almonds, peanut butter, dates apple |
Cobalt (Co) | 0.001-0.002mg | 0.001-0.002mg | Fish, nuts, broccoli, spinach |
Chromium (Cr) | 0.035mg | 0.025mg | Potatoes, green beans, grapes, bananas, milk, dairy products |
Copper (Cu) | 0.9mg | 0.9mg | Liver meat, nuts, dark chocolate, lobster, mushrooms |
Flourine (F) | 4mg | 3mg | Potatoes, tomatoes, tea, cucumber, water |
Iodine (I) | 0.15mg | 0.15mg | Fish, eggs, dairy products, tuna |
Iron (Fe) | 8mg | 18mg | Spinach, beans, lentils, potatoes, tofu |
Manganese (Mn) | 2.3mg | 1.8mg | Almonds, brown rice, spinach, pineapple |
Molybdenum (Mo) | 0.034mg | 0.034mg | Peas, lentils, eggs, spinach, yogurt, cheese, soybean |
Selenium (Se) | 0.055mg | 0.055mg | Nuts, fish, peas, beans, eggs, beef |
Zinc (Zn) | 11mg | 8mg | Meat, nuts, eggs, lentil, dairy products, beans |
Authors: Tanveer Ahmad*, Prof. Dr. Ashfaq Ahmad, Muhammad Shaukat, Muhammad Akhlaq Mudassir, Hamza Latif and Shoaib Nadeem
*Agro-Climatology Lab, Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad