Impact of inadequate food consumption

Inadequate food consumption happens when individuals ____.

• Consume too much food.

• do not consume enough food.

True or false: Malnutrition is the state of extreme hunger from a severe lack of food.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Malnutrition is the condition in which the body does not get the sufficient nutrients.

Starvation is an extreme form of malnutrition.

LDCs are more heavily affected by malnutrition than DCs.

Which groups of people in DCs may be highly affected by malnutrition?

• Elderly

• Adults

• People with eating disorder

Answer explanation

Elderly people may be eating too little as they have difficulty chewing food.

People with eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia, may develop malnutrition as they ingest too little food.

Lack of Vitamin A may result in

• Visual impairment and blindness

• Osteoporosis

• Diarrhoeal diseases

Answer explanation

Osteoporosis is a bone disease that can lead to a decrease in bone strength that can increase the risk of fractures (broken bones). This is due to lack of calcium and Vitamin D.

Diarrhoeal diseases is caused by body's reduced ability to fight off common infections.

Why is starvation more common in LDCs?

• LDCs have greater number of people living in poverty

• Lack of resource to recover from natural disasters

• Unstable political situations (Wars, etc)

Which of the following is not an economic impact of inadequate food consumption?

• Lower productivity

• Social unrest

• Diversion of financial resources to health care

• Long-term debt

How does financial aid lead to long-term debt for the receiving country?

Answer explanation

After receiving financial aid, receiving country (usually LDC) must buy food from the country that has provided them the financial aid. It is much more expensive to purchase food overseas than locally. Thus, this may increase national debt of LDCs to DCs.

Scavenging is searching through things (food, etc) that other people throw away. Why is scavenging dangerous?

• Health risk as scavenged food may contain high levels of bacteria.

• Scavengers may step on sharp items at the landfill and get injured.

• Scavengers may be verbally/physically harassed as they are considered a nuisance