Deficiency disease

Deficiency disease

Science 8

Learning objectives

• Students can define deficiency disease

• Student can discuss some deficiency disease: scurvy, beri-beri, rickets (rachitis), night blindedness, anemia and kwashiorkor

Deficiency disease

Deficiency disease is the disease caused by not having enough essential nutrients.

Essential nutrients are the nutrients that needed by the cells in our body and the cells in our body cannot produce them. Consequently, we completely rely on the foods we consume to get these essential nutrients.

The essential nutrients

Some types of essential nutrients are essential amino acids, essential vitamins and minerals and essential fatty acids.

Some examples of deficiency diseases are scurvy, beri-beri, rickets, anemia and night blindedness.

Scurvy

• Person suffered from scurvy has bleeding and swollen gums. Loss of teeth can also happen.

• The cause of scurvy is the lack of vitamin C also called ascorbic acids.

• Vitamin C is found in fruits especially citrus fruits like oranges, also in kiwis, strawberries, chillies, tomatoes, guava, etc.

• Vitamin C is destroyed by boiling

Beri beri

• Person with beri beri has some paralysis in his or her body and mental confusion

• Beri beri is caused by lacking of vitamin B1 which is also called thiamine.

• People who mainly eat white rice have greater risk for beri beri than those who consume brown rice.

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Discovery of thiamine or vitamin B1

• Brown rice is actually the same as white rice only the skins are not taken off in consumption.

• A person named Casimir Funk observed this phenomenon and made conclusion that the skin of the rice contained certain essential nutrient.

• It was discovered that skin of the rice contained significant amount of thiamine which later also called vitamin B1

• Sources of vitamin B1: beef, liver, dried milk, nuts, oats, oranges, pork, eggs, seeds, legumes, peas and yeast.

Vitamin B1 or thiamine

• Vitamin B1 or thiamine is very important to support the well function of the nervous system, heart and muscles.

Rickets

• Person suffered from rickets has bent legs.

• The bent legs occur because during the childhood the bones are soft and weak

Rickets

• The cause of rickets is the lack of vitamin D.

• Vitamin D is very important to help our body to absorb calcium and minerals which are needed to develop and strengthen bones, teeth and muscle.

• When the bones of the legs are too weak and soft during the childhood, the bones cannot properly sustain the weight of the upper body and therefore they bend.

Vitamin D and the sun

• Fortunately, our body has the ability to produce vitamin D.

• The formation of vitamin D in our body requires the sunlight.

• Accordingly, it is important for the people to be exposed with right amount of sunlight to promote the production of vitamin D in the body.

• People live in the area where the sunlight is not as much as in tropical region, they may need external supply of vitamin D.

Kwashiorkor

• Kwashiorkor is deficiency disease which is very common in infants and children in developing countries.

• The symptoms of kwashiorkor are swelling under the skin, bloated stomach and shrinking muscle.

• The cause of kwashiorkor is the lack of proteins

Anemia

• People suffered from anemia are easily to feel tired and feeling weak.

• The person is feeling weak in general because there are not enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body.

• This condition is caused by the lack of iron mineral. Iron mineral is very important to promote the production of red blood cells.

• Iron mineral is one of the essential mineral which we need to get it from our diet.

• The sources of iron mineral: beans, spinach, beef, chicken, fish, mussels

Night blindness

• Night blindness is the condition when a person is not able to see clearly at night or in poor light (e.g. when normal sight still should be able to see)

• Among others, one possible cause of night blindness is the lack of vitamin A which is also called retinol

• Retinol or vitamin A is playing important role in changing the nerve signals into images in the retina. Retina is the area at the back of the eye which is very sensitive to light.

• When the amount of vitamin A is lacking then the process of converting the nerve signals when we see an object into the image is disturbed. As the result we cannot see the object clearly.

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Vitamin A and night blindness

• Vitamin A is one example of essential vitamin which we rely on the foods we eat.

• Some sources of vitamin A are carrots, liver, beef, fish. pumpkin

Multiple Choice

Which among these is not deficiency disease?

• diarrhea

• scurvy

• beri beri

• kwashiorkor

Multiple Choice

Scurvy can happen when the person is lacking of

• essential fatty acid

• vitamin D

• vitamin C

• vitamin A

Multiple Choice

What is the common symptoms of scurvy

• bloated stomach

• mental confusion

• fatigue

• bleeding gums

Multiple Choice

Which among these is caused by lacking of vitamin D?

• beri beri

• anemia

• rickets

• none is correct

Multiple Choice

This vitamin is soluble in fat and can be produced by the our body

• vitamin C

• vitamin D

• vitamin A

• vitamin B1

Multiple Choice

This disease is caused by lack of proteins

• beri-beri

• kwashiorkor

• anemia

• rickets

Multiple Choice

Some of the symptoms of the disease are bloated stomach and swollen skin

• beri beri

• kwashiorkor

• rickets

• anemia

Multiple Choice

This mineral is needed to produce healthy red blood cells

• vitamin A

• calcium

• phosphate

• iron

Multiple Choice

What is the cause of beri beri?

• lack of retinol

• lack of fatty acid

• lack of vitamin B1

• none of them

Multiple Choice

Which one is the symptom of beri beri?

• inability to move some parts of the body

• feeling weak

• bent legs

• swollen skin

Multiple Choice

Which among these foods is good to prevent nigh blindness?

• orange

• beef liver

• soy beans

• kiwi

Multiple Choice

This mineral is important to develop our bones, teeth and muscle

• iron

• calcium

• nitrate

• vitamin D

Multiple Choice

The function of this substance is to help the absorption of calcium and phosphate of the cells

• retinol

• thiamine

• vitamin D

• iron