Health and Diseases
Introduction
A balanced diet and clean surrounding are necessary for good health. When in good health, our organs function well. Our physical and mental strength increases.
Deficiency diseases
The lack of some constituents of food in our diet can cause certain diseases. Theses are known as deficiency diseases.
Diseases caused due to
deficiency of vit A
}Night-blindness: Some
people can see clearly during the day, but in dim light , they are not able to
see quite clearly. This is called Night-blindness.
}Treatment: Include
leafy vegetables, ripe yellow vegetables, carrots, papayas, and
milk in diet.
Diseases caused due to deficiency of vitamin B-
}Beriberi: In this disease redness of the tongue, roughness of
the skin occurs.
}Treatment: Include pulses,
leafy
vegetables, and milk in diet.
Disease caused by
deficiency of vit C-
}Scurvy: Deficiency of vitamin C causes Scurvy.
} Vitamin C is
required for the growth of the body and for our joints, bones, teeth, gums,
etc.
}Scurvy is mainly a
children’s disease. It causes weakness in the baby’s limbs. The baby has pain
and becomes irritable.
}Treatment: include amla, lemons,
oranges, and sprouts in the diet.
Disease caused by
deficiency of vit D-
}Rickets: deficiency of vitamin D causes rickets in young
children
}Bending of the bones
of the legs, bending of the back occurs in children.
}Treatment: Expose the body to the early morning sun. Include
milk, shark-liver and cod-liver oil in
the diet.
Deficiency of calcium-
}A deficiency of
calcium makes our bones brittle and causes our teeth to wear away.
}Treatment: milk, wheat, leafy vegetables, cabbage, carrots,
oranges, almonds, salmon and sardines etc.
Deficiency of
phosphorous
}Lack of phosphorous
causes loss of weight, or stunted growth.
Treatment: Cereals like wheat, bajra, corn, dals like udid and
moong, egg yolk milk and leafy vegetales contain phosphorous.
Deficiency of iron
}Iron is necessary for
producing red blood corpuscles. Women need more iron when they are pregnant.
}A deficiency of iron
causes anaemia. An anaemic person becomes tired easily.
}Treatment: Wheat, jaggery, green leafy vegetables, dates are rich
source of iron.
Deficiency of iodine
}Iodine is very
important for our body. Iodine is an important constituent of thyroxine.
}Lack of iodine stunts
growth. Also, the growth of the thyroid gland becomes irregular. This disorder
is called goitre.
}Treatment: People with goitre are advised to use iodised salt.
