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Deficiency Disease

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Contents

Key Stage 3

Meaning

A deficiency disease is an illness caused by missing some nutrients from your diet.

About Deficiency Diseases

Not having a balanced diet can cause a deficiency disease.

Some Deficiency diseases you should know:

  • Starvation - Not enough food, especially carbohydrates and fats. This can be cured by eating more food.
  • Kwashiorkor - Not enough protein. This can be cured by eating more meat, beans or lentils.
  • Anemia - Not enough Iron. This can be cured by eating more red meat or spinach.
  • Scurvy - Not enough VitaminC. This can be cured by eating Citrus fruits.
  • Rickets - Not enough Vitamin D. - This can be cured by eating more fish, drinking more milk or spending more time in The Sun as the skin can make Vitamin D with the help of sunlight.


Starvation Obesity Scurvy Kwashiorkor Rickets
Not enough food, especially foods with a lot of energy, causes you to become too thin. Too much food, especially foods with a lot of energy, causes you to gain weight and increases the risk of heart attack. Not enough Vitamin C causes your wounds to stop healing, sores to appear on the tongue and skin and teeth to fall out. Not enough protein causes your organs to swell. Not enough Vitamin D causes bones to become bendy.


References

AQA

Deficiency diseases (in plants), page 151, GCSE Biology, CGP, AQA
Deficiency diseases, page 105, GCSE Biology, Hodder, AQA