Marasmus:
This is caused due to the severe deficiency of both proteins and calories in the diet. Nutritional surveys among pre-school (1 to 5 years) children show that more than 90% of children of lower economic groups do not get required calories per day. Therefore, such ' children become victims of marasmus. This is manifested by severe retardation in growth, loss of muscles and subcutaneous fat. Deficiency due to iron and vitamin A causes anaemia and eye lesions respectively. There are other diseases prevalent mainly among low income groups due to deficiency of other vitamins and minerals. Some of the diseases can be cured by making certain foods available to the people. Figs show deficiency symptoms of some of the diseases. So we conclude that to curb malnutrition. our country needs to produce and distribute sufficient food to meet the basic energy (calorie) requirements of our vast population. And once this need is fulfilled, ways of supplementing the food with proteins, vitamins and minerals can be worked out to improve its quality.