Malnutrition is the insufficient, excessive or imbalanced consumption of nutrients. Deficiency diseases are diseases in humans that are directly or indirectly caused by a lack of essential nutrients in the diet.
Deficiency diseases are commonly associated with chronic malnutrition. A number of different nutrition disorders may arise, depending on which nutrients are under or overabundant in the diet.
According a study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, in the developing world, cancers of the liver, stomach and esophagus are often linked to consumption of carcinogenic preserved foods, such as smoked or salted food, and parasitic infections that attack organs.
Malnutrition, in the form of iodine deficiency, is the most common preventable cause of mental impairment worldwide.
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Malnutrition increases the risk of infection and infectious diseases; for example, vitamin C deficiency cause dental cavities, low infection resistance (colds), anemia, bleeding gums, breath shortness, capillary wall ruptures (bruise easily), muscle degeneration, nosebleeds, poor digestion, stress, weakened cartilages, blood clots, and slow healing wounds.
Environmental exposure to chemicals and ‘xenobiotics’:
Xenobiotics are chemical components both natural and synthetic foreign to the organisms. They produce immunosupression effect on living beings more specifically these include changes in leucocyte cellularity, lymphocyte sub population, imunosupression with increased susceptibility to infection and tumor development.