Malnutrition and diarrhea is a combo that hurts the poor

Bob Ewing---How far does the affects of hunger stretch; what are the conditions or diseases associated with a poor diet, malnutrition or starvation? First, let us take a closer look at a condition we have some familiarity with, diarrhea.

Diarrhea, not a word, we usually hear in daily conversation; however, many of us have experienced it. Perhaps, our frequent, urgent dashes to the nearest bathroom were the result of too much beer and hot wings or pizza the night before, possibly, the flu is flushing our system. For most of us in North America, diarrhea is a condition that will pass within a day or two; elsewhere diarrhea takes on a more sinister nature.

[caption id="attachment_15513" align="alignnone" width="200"] A woman is filling a bowl with a dirty, undrinkable water at Boromata's well. The Vakaga region, close to Sudan, suffers from a high incidence of environmental diseases. Rate of diarrhea, which was found to be high amongst children under 5, affects up to 50% of children per week.
Date 18 June 2007, 07:21[/caption]

According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary, diarrhea is "An abnormally frequent discharge of semisolid or fluid fecal matter from the bowel." Dehydration often accompanies diarrhea, especially if drinkable water is not near by or we, for whatever reason, do not consume enough to replace what we have loss.

Severe diarrhea may be life-threatening; young children and people who are malnourished or have impaired immunity are at the greatest risk.
The World Health Organization states: “Diarrhoea is one of the leading causes of death among children under five globally. More than one in ten child deaths – about 800 000 each year – is due to diarrhoea. Today, only 44% of children with diarrhoea in low-income countries receive the recommended treatment, and limited trend data suggest that there has been little progress since 2000.”

A study published , May 2011, in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal found: “An average of 369 diarrhea-associated deaths/year (3320 total deaths) occurred among US children 1 to 59 months of age during 1992-1998 and 2005-2006. The diarrhea-associated death rate increased 40% between the first 3 and last 2 years of the study period, from an average of 1.6 deaths per 100,000 to 2.3 deaths per 100,000.”

Malnutrition and diarrhea are linked because; for example, when a child is malnourished he or she is more susceptible to diarrhea, causing more frequent and more severe diarrheal episodes.

To complicate the situation further, when a child suffers a bout of diarrhea, the illness saps nutrients that young bodies desperately need. This becomes a vicious cycle that, unless, broken, often leads to death.

Sanitation and the state of the local water supply play a major role in this cycle, the next article will examine why and begin a look at what can be done and is being done to provide clean drinking water, where it is needed, around the world.

Malnutrition is a Global Reality

Malnutrition is not just an undeveloped country reality; its affects are experienced globally. What is malnutrition; it is a condition that develops when the body does not get the right amount of the vitamins, and other nutrients, it needs to maintain healthy tissues and organ function.

The above definition indicates that it is possible to eat regularly, and still be malnourished; because the condition is caused, not only, by the unavailability of food, but also by the consumption of foods that are vitamin and nutrient poor.

The human body, in order to maintain a balanced or healthy state requires a daily intake of the following: seven major minerals, namely phosphorous, calcium, sodium, potassium, chlorine, sulfur and magnesium. In addition to these major minerals there are trace minerals that are considered to be essential for maximum health they are iron, iodine, cobalt (from vitamin B12), chromium, selenium, copper, fluorine, manganese, zinc and molybdenum.

What we eat, and how much, and how often we eat, are determining factors in both malnutrition and hunger. Many people consider these companion (Malnutrition, hunger) realities to happen only in developing countries or very poor regions, however, for 1 in 6 people in the United States, hunger is a daily experience.

Among those who go hungry are hard-working adults, children and seniors who simply cannot make ends meet and are forced to go without food for several meals, or even days.

A, perhaps surprisingly, related condition to malnutrition is obesity. At first, this may appear difficult to reconcile, but when you think about the fast food lifestyle many North Americans live, and the instant foods they eat; foods that often do not contain sufficient amounts of the vitamins and minerals our bodies demand, but are loaded with fructose, glucose or some form of refined sugar; it is easier to make the connection between improper food consumption, obesity and malnutrition.

Mark Hyman MD in the Huffpost Healthy Living Blog, March 8, 2012 said “Americans are overfed and undernourished. That's right, the most obese children and adults in the country are also the most nutritionally deficient.”

I suspect the same can be said for Canada and other developed nations; countries that are not normally associated with hunger or deprivation.

Hunger and malnutrition are not just happening over there, someplace that is far from our homes, but are taking place in our communities, neighborhoods and quite possibly within our own families.