Explain the Protein Deficiency?
One of the most common nutritional disorders in the world today is the deficiency of protein. Both adults and children are affected, as the populations in the less developed nations of the world exceed their food supply. Due to the ubiquitous nature of protein and its role in bodily function, protein deficiency is characterized by a number of symptoms. In many situations, not only is protein lacking in the diet but also calories. For this reason, it is difficult to segregate symptoms due solely to protein deficiency from those of energy deficit. In children, one may observe the different symptoms and visualize them all as parts of a continuum called protein -energy or protein- calorie malnutrition (PEM or PCM) rather than distinctly different nutritional disorders. 'Kwashiorkor' was the term used to describe a disease first observed in the Gold Coast of Africa by Dr. Cicely Williams in 1935 and at first was regarded as a dietary state where only protein was deficient, not energy. Mamsmus, on the other hand, was regarded as a dietary state where both protein and energy are deficient. Now it has become apparent that the symptoms of any one of the twin diseases may intermingle with the other so that a clear-cut diagnosis is impossible.