Vitamins

This chapter is going to explain a part of the nutrients the human body needs. They are organic compounds called vitamins. Those compounds will be clarified, as well as their benefits, deficiencies, chemical structure, and why the body needs them crucially. Vitamins is an exceptionally vital recognized name required in certain amounts in the body, some of them exist as a complicated natural compounds found in herbal meals. It plays a key function in regular metabolism, the absence of which in the diet causes deficiency and several diseases. Vitamins are differentiated from the trace elements, also found in the weight-reduction plan in small quantities for health, growth, replica, and other crucial metabolism.

Malnutrition: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives

Achievement of good nutrition is important in Universal Healthcare; hence, all stakeholders should be updated regarding management of malnutrition and challenges encountered, especially in resource-constrained societies of the world. Coexistence of multiple predisposing factors of malnutrition therefore compounds its diagnosis and management. It is of paramount importance therefore that the vulnerable population should be provided with adequate knowledge to alleviate the nutritional challenges they encounter. Capacity building of the healthcare personnel that are entrusted to serve such vulnerable societies should be improved appropriately. Healthy nutrition policy makers, implementers, and evaluators in all healthcare sectors should be conversant with new developments in management of malnutrition and challenges including those encountered in case studies, such as one recently encountered in Kenya, during the management of isoniazid induced pellagra (IPT) in a TB patient also on antiretroviral therapy. Food fortification, nixtamalization, provision of ready-to-use therapy foods (RUTFs), and innovative lipid-based nutrient supplements are relatively new areas whose nutrition policy makers, implementers, and evaluators should be well updated in. As part of nutrition optimization among those at risk, the nonadherence to exclusive breastfeeding for at least 6 months, which globally remains unacceptably high (59%), should urgently be addressed through appropriate and widespread counseling.

Global Prevalence of Malnutrition: Evidence from Literature

Malnutrition is a widespread problem, affecting the global population at some life stage. This public health epidemic targets everyone, but the most vulnerable groups are poverty-stricken people, young children, adolescents, older people, those who are with illness and have a compromised immune system, as well as lactating and pregnant women. Malnutrition includes both undernutrition (wasting, stunting, underweight, and mineral- and vitamin-related malnutrition) and overnutrition (overweight, obesity, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases). In combating malnutrition, healthcare costs increase, productivity is reduced, and economic growth is staggered, thus perpetuating the cycle of ill health and poverty. The best-targeted age for addressing malnutrition is the first 1000 days of life as this window period is ideal for intervention implementation and tracking for the improvement of child growth and development. There is an unprecedented opportunity to address the various forms of malnutrition, especially the 2016–2025 Decade of Action on Nutrition set by the United Nation. This aims to achieve the relevant targets of the Sustainable Development Goals that aim to end hunger and improve nutrition, as well as promote well-being and ensure healthy lives.

Detection of Nutrient-Related SNP to Reveal Individual Malnutrition Risk

Malnutrition is a result of complicated reasons from diet and food behavior and also related to genetic background which has been revealed by studies in recent decades. Traditionally, nutrition status are measured and expressed with indexes of anthropometric, diet survey, clinical symptom, biochemistry, behavior, etc. These measurement has been used in national nutrition monitoring, clinic nutrition therapy, mother and children nutrition care, nutrition intervention projects, and scientific studies. However, genetic and epigenetic information on nutrition explain malnutrition in a genetic view that would supply additional new theory and methodology for the growing requirement in terms of personalized and precise nutrition. In this chapter, an introduction on the detection of nutrient-related SNP to reveal individual malnutrition risk is discussed.

Biofortification of Crops Using Biotechnology to Alleviate Malnutrition

Malnutrition affects millions of people around the world, and the vast majority are found in developing countries. Malnutrition increases childhood mortality, amplifies poor outcomes during pregnancy, and is responsible for a variety of health disorders ranging from anemia to blindness. Biofortification of crops using biotechnological approaches such as genetic modification and genome editing holds promise as a powerful tool to combat malnutrition. This chapter describes progress that has been made in the development of biofortified staple crops to address malnutrition.

Wernicke Encephalopathy in Elderly Related to Severe Malnutrition

Wernicke encephalopathy (WE) is the main neurologic complication of thiamine deficiency. Thiamine is a cofactor for several key enzymes important in energy metabolism. WE is a little-recognised and underdiagnosed condition, and the prevalence in the elderly is unknown. The classic triad of WE includes encephalopathy, oculomotor dysfunction, and gait ataxia. Diagnosis is clinical, and early treatment with thiamine is fundamental in preventing coma and death. In the cases reported in the literature, the cause of WE was fasting or malnutrition in 10.2% of cases. WE may in some cases constitute a public health problem. Being the prevalence unknown, we alert clinicians to keep severe malnutrition in elderly as a form of precipitation of WE. We review the cases published in the literature.