Impact of Nutrition On health and Healthy Living

The general notion that the study of nutrition is merely aimed at

providing a balanced diet for the populace is no longer adequate.
Concepts of what constitutes a 'balanced diet' have changed
markedly and it is not even an issue relating to the achievement
of the 'recommended levels' of nutrients in the diet. Nutrition is a
complex subject that biologically relates to nutrientgene
interactions and the induction of such diseases as diabetes
mellitus, coronary heart disease (CHD), and cancers, and even to
such conditions as asthma and impaired brain development.
Nutrition also deals with the social, economic, and cultural issues
related to making the right food choices and to purchasing and
eating the 'correct' types of food in the 'appropriate' quantities, as
well as the factors that determine this aspect of essential daily
human activity and behavior.
Fluctuations in disease rates depend on environmental factors
that include food and nutrition as one of the primary determinants
Nutrition is now recognized as a major determinant of a wide
range of diseases of public health importance worldwide. In the
developing world, numerous deficiency diseases persist,
especially in the rural areas, which are the result of essential
nutrient deficiencies in the daily diet. These now coexist with the
increasing presence of diet-related chronic diseases in the adult
typically seen only in industrialized, developed countries
Diseases Influenced By Diet Are
1. Intrauterine Growth Restriction: the definition of IUGR
should be infants born at term (i.e. > 37 weeks of gestation)
with a low birth weight (i.e. < 2500 g).Common in
developing Countries
Multifactorial in cause but environmental factor is highest
with nutrition being the most important cause of it. Poor
maternal nutritional status at conception and inadequate

maternal nutrition during pregnancy can result in IUGR. Short

maternal stature, low maternal body weight and body mass
index (BMI) at conception, and inadequate weight gain
during pregnancy are factors that are associated with IUGR.
In developing countries IUGR is closely related to conditions
of poverty and chronic under nutrition of economically
disadvantaged mothers.
2. Proteinenergy malnutrition The clinical conditions of
childhood malnutrition are widely recognized as kwashiorkor,
marasmus, and the mixed condition of marasmic
kwashiorkor
Children are characteristically oedematous with a moon face,
a scaling crazy-pavement pigmentation, and ulceration of
the skin with sparse thin reddish hair. Clinically, they are
morose and lethargic, and they have a large liver and often
appreciable amounts of trunkal and limb fat, which obscures
an atrophied muscle mass. The marasmic form of protein
energy malnutrition is that of a wizened, shrivelled, growthretarded, and skeletal child who is often alert and with
normal-coloured but shrivelled skin
3. Diarrhoeal disease and malnutrition.
How to Assess Nutrition in adults
1 BMI
2. Waist Hip Ratio
4. Cognitive and mental development and malnutrition
selective nutrient deficiencies can lead to impaired brain
function and this, therefore, raises the issue of whether fooddeprived, stunted children in the Third World are capable of
being rehabilitated with a complete diet
5. Iron deficiency: Iron deficiency is probably the most
common nutritional deficiency disorder in the world. The
highest prevalence figures for iron deficiency are found in
infants, children, teenagers, and women of childbearing age.
Hence it is a major public health problem with adverse

consequences especially for women of reproductive age and

for young children
6. Iodine deficiency: The term 'iodine deficiency disorder'
(IDD) refers to a complex of effects arising from iodine
deficiency. The mountainous areas of the world are likely to
be iodine deficient because the rain leaches the iodine from
the rocks and soils. The most severely deficient areas are the
Himalayas, the Andes, the European Alps, and the vast
mountainous regions of China excessive intakes of
goitrogens in food (due to the excessive consumption of
cassava may interfere with the uptake and metabolism of
iodine in the body and can thus cause or amplify the effects
of iodine deficiency.
7. Vitamin A deficiency
8. Vitamin A deficiency leads to night blindness and xerosis
(dryness) of the conjunctiva and cornea, disrupts the
integrity of their surface and causes corneal clouding and
ulceration, and may lead to blindness in children.

Adult under nutrition

The nutritional world has concentrated for the last 50 years
on the vulnerable groups in society (i.e. children, pregnant
and nursing mothers, and the elderly)
Diet and chronic non-communicable diseases
Diet and cardiovascular diseases
The most common cardiovascular diseases that are dietrelated are CHD and hypertension.
High intake of cholesterol and smoking are the most
important nutritional factor, too much intake of salt for
hypertension.
Diet and cancers
Cancers of the gastrointestinal tract may be influenced by
the diet. The intake of alcohol appears to be an independent
risk factor for oral, pharyngeal, and oesophageal cancer.
Consumption of salted fish, preserved, and fermented foods
containing nitrosamines as weaning foods or from early
childhood
may
introduce
a
substantial
risk
of

nasopharyngeal cancer. Several studies have demonstrated

a positive association between oesophageal cancer and
several dietary factors, which include low intakes of vitamins
A and C, riboflavin, nicotinic acid, calcium, and zinc. In
dietary terms the associations are with low intakes of lentils,
green vegetables, and fresh fruits. Like nasopharyngeal
cancers, the risk of oesophageal cancers is also positively
related to increased intakes of highly salted foods and
fermented, mouldy foods containing N-nitroso compounds.
Stomach cancer is also associated with diets comprising
large amounts of smoked and salt-preserved foods, which
may contain precursors of nitrosamines, and low levels of
fresh fruit and vegetables, which may contain nutrients that
possibly inhibit the formation of nitrosamines. Colon cancer
is the third most common form of cancer and the incidence
rates are high in western Europe and North America,
whereas they are low in sub-Saharan Africa (Boyle et al.
1985). Almost all the specific risk factors of colon cancer are
of dietary origin Vegetarian diets seem to provide a
protective effect from the risk of colon cancer and the effects
may be mediated by intakes of vitamin A and its precursor bcarotene.
Primary liver cancers have been correlated worldwide with
mycotoxin (aflatoxin) contamination of foodstuffs
The primary causal factor for lung cancer, a leading cause of
death among men, is cigarette smoking.
Breast cancer
intake of calories and dietary fat, and
specific sources of dietary fat such as milk and meat
Non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus: too much
intake of all types of food especially carbohydrate
Diet and osteoporosis
Calcium intake is a likely dietary determinant that may
contribute to the onset and degree of osteoporosis.
Diet and dental caries: too much intake of sugar.
Diet and non-cancerous conditions of the large bowel

There are several chronic disorders of the large bowel that

are frequently associated with a typical 'affluent' diet, which
is low in dietary fibre content. This includes diverticular
disease, haemorrhoids, and constipation. Constipation
occurs when the daily faecal weight falls below 100 g and is
associated with slower intestinal transit times