Are you lately feeling tired, irritated, having bowel problems, noticing mood swings and physical health problems, having brittle nails and hair fall problems?
If the answer to the above is YES, you are suffering from inadequate nutrition or Malnutrition. In simple words, the food you are consuming is unable to meet your body’s nutrient and energy demand, which is required for its smooth and diseases free functioning.
Malnutrition (Over / Under Nutrition) affects our nutritional status thus affecting our overall health. Here are some of the impacts of Inadequate Nutrition:-
Immunity:
Our immunity and the body’s ability to fight germs and diseases, is affected with a low quality of nutritional intake in our diet making us more susceptible and prone to infections and diseases. Deficient intake of vitamin A, C, B-complex vitamins and iron, folic acid, calcium, selenium, zinc etc leads to lack of immune responses.
Physical Fitness:
Both, Physical Fitness and Proper Nutrition go hand in hand for a person’s general health and overall fitness and both are interdependent on each other. Adequate Nutrition gives us energy to exercise and keep ourselves physically fit and vice versa being fit and healthy keeps us disease free.
Deficiency Diseases:
Due to insufficient nutritional intake in our diet, we suffer from many deficiency diseases like Anemia caused by lack of Iron, Osteoporosis caused by lack of Calcium, etc. Many other disorders and diseases are also caused due to deficiency of Vitamin D and B12 deficiency, vitamin E etc. Commonest symptoms observed include bleeding gums, scurvy, rickets, night blindness, pain in joints, inability to clot blood, fatigue, paleness, muscle weakness, malina, lack of stamina, etc.
Obesity:
A person having a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 25 or more than 25 is termed to be obese. An overweight or obese person is at risk of many ailments and heart diseases which can be grave to health due to poor nutritional intake. Also adopting improper methods for weight loss like starving/ fasting etc for prolonged periods can cause malnutrition in long run.
Diabetes:
Apple shaped obesity often related to excess calorie and carbohydrate consumption and lack of exercise is also related to diabetes. A nutritious diet adequate in calories and proteins along with low intake of simple carbs and junk food and high intake of complex carbs and fiber rich foods help in preventing as well as controlling diabetes. A pre-diabetic individual should focus on his nutritional demands to prevent diabetes.
Heart Health:
Heart attack or stroke can be caused due to poor nutrition, which damages the brain and also leads to death. High cholesterol, Hypertension etc are caused by food items high in Salt, cholesterol and saturated fats, lack of vitamin B12 leading to high homocysteine levels are a leading cause for strokes and heart diseases.
Cancer:
Poor Nutritional intake, bad dietary habits and lifestyle are leading causative factors for various Cancers. Fast food, excessive sugar and hydrogenated oil intake which are consumed in products like burgers, desserts, processed and packaged food, smoked food items lead to cancer of the Bladder, Breast and Colon. A diet rich in anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients like vitamin E, A, C and minerals like selenium, folic acid, etc. is essential for cancer prevention. Deficiency of these nutrients is directly related to increased risk of cancer.
A proper diet which includes fresh fruits, vegetables, low fat products and whole grains help to fulfill our body’s nutritional needs and provides us with good health and energy for our daily needs and requirements in life.