WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE FAMILIES DON'T EAT WELL?

The results poor diet

 

People who have a poor diet and do not consume not the right amount of energy foods or nutrients are often sick and begin to suffer from malnutrition. The type of malnutrition that  occurs varies depending on the type of nutrient and the amount of food energy that are insufficient (or too abundant), the duration of this insufficiency and the age of the person.

Sometimes children or adults eat too little and become undernourished because they don't have enough food or have little appetite.

They lack calories and many nutrients, which has many consequences.

► They have less energy and therefore cannot play, study or work normally.

► Their immune system is weak; they get sick easily and / or are seriously ill.

► Children stop growing and may lose weight. When a child consumes very little food (often due to infection), he may develop acute malnutrition (for example, kwashiorkor or the doldrums).

► Adults lose weight. If a pregnant woman is undernourished, the child being born does not develop well. Some people may have an unbalanced diet, which provides too little of a particular nutrient. Here are a few examples.

► If there is an iron deficiency, the child's physical and brain development fant may be delayed. Whatever their age, people are less active, are less immune to infections and may become anemic. Women with anemia are at greater risk of die during or after their pregnancy.

► If there is an iodine deficiency, people become more listless and have difficulty studying or working. They sometimes develop a goiter. A woman who lacks iodine early in her pregnancy is at high risk to have a child whose physical or brain development is poor promised. For example, the child may have a low IQ or

to be deaf.

 

► If there is vitamin A deficiency, people are more likely to have sick because their immune system is damaged. In case of avitami-nose A severe eye disorders range from twilight blindness to total blindness, passing through the dryness of the conjunctiva (xeroph-talmia) and corneal lesions. These disorders manifest themselves most often in young children or pregnant women. Sometimes people eat more food (especially more energy-dense foods with lots of fat and / or oil) than they need. By absorbing excess calories, they become too fat (they are overweight or obese). These people ris-therefore more likely to suffer from chronic diseases, such as heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes.

Malnutrition (due either to a lack of food energy and / or nutri- or to an excess) is one of the most serious health problems of the world, especially in developing countries.

► More than half of deaths in children under 5 are linked to malnutrition.

► In many countries, a third of young children are late growth and 10 percent are too thin (emaciated).

► About one in six newborns has a low birth weight, which makes them makes it more likely to get sick, to be stunted and die.

► Anemia due to a lack of iron is the most common nutritional disorder widespread. In many regions, half of the women are mics.

► The disorders due to a deficiency in vitamin A, iodine or zinc are wide- widespread in many countries.

► Overweight and obesity, as well as the disorders associated with them, are increase in most countrie.

 

The causes of malnutrition

There are many reasons why a child or an adult becomes undernourished. The causes vary from individual to individual, but they can be divided into three categories: immediate causes, underlying causes and causes

fundamental.

 

Immediate causes

Poor diet and illness are the immediate causes.

diates of malnutrition.

► A poor diet may be due to:

► insufficient breast milk;

► too little meals;

► foods with little variety;

► low concentrations of energy and nutrients in meals (e.g.

example when the food is too watery);

► infrequent meals.

► In the event of illness, people may:

► do not eat a lot;

► absorb few nutrients;

► lose nutrients from the body;

► deplete nutrients from the body more quickly (for example by

fever).

 

Underlying causes

Some of the underlying causes include food shortages in the family, inadequate care and eating habits, especially with regard to concerns children and women, poor living conditions and services poor health defects.

► Food shortages in the family can be due to:

► a lack of money to buy food;

► low production of food for the family;

► poor storage and preservation of food;

► unsatisfactory choices and an insufficient budget.

► Inadequate care and eating habits concern:

► how families nurture and encourage young children to eat;

► the way in which families take care of women (in particular during during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding), as well as sick and old people;

► the method of food preparation and the degree of hygiene at home;

► how families prevent illnesses and treat them at the home, and their use of health services.

 

► Poor living conditions mean for example a quantity of water inadequate sanitation, inadequate sanitation and poor housing.

people. Poor health services are understood to mean the lack of medicines and trained health personnel, which increases the risk of diseases. When environmental sanitation services are inadequate, the risk of foodborne infections increases.

The role of women in the production, trade and preparation of food is crucial, but it is often overlooked when analyzing the causes of malnutrition and that nutrition programs are planned. In many countries, women produce a lot of food or most of it. The level of care and quality of diet that women can giving to their families (including themselves) largely depend on their workload and their social role within the family. For example, when women have heavy workloads, and this is often the case, it sometimes they do not have time to prepare more than one meal a day, which is very insufficient for young children. If women have little authority or control over resources, such as land or money, this influences also on the type of care they are able to give to the different family members. The workload and social role of women can can be important underlying causes of malnutrition.

 

Root causes

For each type of underlying cause, there are deeper causes, which can be the following:

► widespread poverty and lack of employment opportunities;

► unequal distribution and control of resources at the community level, district or country, or internationally;

► low social position and educational level of women;

► demographic pressure;

► deterioration of the natural environment;

► political instability and conflicts;

► lack of health, education and other social services;

► discrimination.

Figure 2 highlights many of the different factors, at various levels of society, which can lead to malnutrition. It's obvious that these factors are more complex in reality. In fact, malnutrition itself even can reduce a family's ability to take care of all of its limbs, and thus create a vicious circle of malnutrition and its underlying causes. underlying. This is the case, for example, when a child who suffers from malnutrition needs to receive more attention from those caring for him, hence a reduced capacity of the family to take care of the needs (food, health, etc.) of other members of the household. The series of illustrations of the Figure 2, however, helps us to identify the most important reasons that make that a person, family or community can be malnourished.