Deficiency disease - Definition and Overview

Many diseases are thought to be directly or indirectly related to nutrition (see Dr. Joel Fuhrman). These include:

• Cardiovascular disease (Leading cause of death in the western world)
  • A primary cause is thought to be ingestion of saturated fat and trans fat
• Some cancers
• diabetes mellitus
• beriberi
• rickets
• scurvy
• vitamin deficiency disease
• kwashiorkor
• pellagra
• poor immune system function, potentially leading to a wide range of other illnesses.
• osteoporosis
  • Caused by calcium deficiency

Additionally, several diseases are directly or indirectly impacted by dietary habits, and require very close attention to the nutrient content of food. These include:

• metabolic or nutritionally related disease such as diabetes mellitus or endemic goitre.
• various eating disorders such as binge eating, anorexia nervosa, or bulimia