Every person is obliged to the right to eat for a healthy living. However, some people especially children do not get enough food to eat, or when they do, they eat without necessarily wondering about the kind of foods they eat, something that can result to malnutrition. Malnutrition is a body condition that develops when the body fails to get balanced nutrients as well as minerals and vitamins required for body development. Malnutrition can also refer to as poor nutrition, falling under either over nutrition or under nutrition. Over-nutrition is a condition where people get more nutrients than the amount needed by their bodies, while under-nutrition is a condition where the body fails to get enough nutrients than the ones needed by their bodies. Malnutrition cases are very common, and the discussion hereunder will highlight effects of malnutrition on kids in the African American communities.
In the United States, many children do not suffer malnutrition because of the lack of food to eat, but because of consuming a lot of food with many calories which are nutritionally poor (hidden hunger). When children eat foods with more calories, they fail to consume enough nutrients in their bodies such as vitamins and minerals, and therefore, their normal body growth and development is affected. Obviously, minerals are very important in the body, because they help in the development of strong bones, and when it is not evenly distributed in the kids’ bodies, they get rickets at their tender ages. Rickets is a disorder that softens the bones and makes the legs to bow, especially if the kids do not get enough vitamin D that aids calcium to be absorbed in the body. That explains why most of the African American children have bow legs, an effect of malnutrition.
Even though the cases of malnutrition are spoken about, US do not encourage the exposure of micronutrients deficiency, and this becomes a challenge especially to African American communities who have little or no say in the United States. This is because, most of them do not get the food recommended by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that constitutes to the nutrients required by the body for development and functioning (Hidden Hunger). The result is that these kids end up consuming foods with less or no vitamins such as Vitamins A, D and E, as well as minerals such as magnesium, hence suffer from immune system disorders, their mental abilities are reduced, suffer from stunted growth, chronic diseases and they may end up dying (Muller & Krawinkel, 2005).
When children lack calcium, they suffer from muscle cramps that are experienced at the onset of calcium deficiency in the body, making the muscles to ache. Most of the muscles affected are underarms, arms and thighs, especially when walking and moving around. Children also suffer from insomnia, and tooth decay at a tender age. They experience poor bone density, and their nails do not grow as strong as they should, but rather, they become weak and brittle. All these effects are experienced by kids in African American communities, because their parents or guardians cannot afford to buy foods with the right amount of nutrients for their bodies.
Malnutrition also causes stunting growth in children. Stunting is a long term effect of malnutrition that affects the ability of a child to grow in a normal way. Stunting growth is experienced when the heights of children, as well as their weights are too low as compared to other children of the same age. Stunting growth is a challenge to children especially if chronically malnourished, because they may never get the normal height or the normal weight ever in their lives. Besides, malnutrition may prevent the normal development of the brain, as well as the intellectual capacity of kids at their tender age. This means that malnourished children strain to do things, and they may also lack the ability to compete well with other children in schools, and this explains why most of the African American children under malnutrition do not do as well as other American children in schools. After affecting the development of brain, malnutrition also affects motor and cognitive development such as;
IQ scores is lowered
Social skills are reduced
Learning disabilities
Language development is lowered
Impaired school performance
The ability to solve problems is lowered
Attention deficit disorder
Memory deficiency
Malnutrition also causes marasmus in children. In definition, marasmus is a deficiency related to severe protein energy ratio in the body that results from malnutrition. Marasmus is also well known as energy deficiency, and it is distinguished by an extremely loss of weight in the body, loss of hair, darker thin and papery skin, their facial expressions become gaunt, and they experience prolonged periods of apathy.
Kwashiorkor is also associated with malnutrition in children. In definition, kwashiorkor is a protein-energy deficiency in malnourished kids, and differentiated from marasmus in that even if the intake of protein is restricted, the intake of calorie is sufficient. Children suffering from kwashiorkor are distinguished by rashes, bloating that cause a distended belly, water retention, the hair become brittle and discolored, and the apathy and liver become enlarged. Even though kwashiorkor is rare in United States, African American children are prone to it, and if it goes untreated, it may lead to children in a coma, or even death (Collins et al., 2006).
Malnutrition affects the child’s immune system, and this makes them susceptible to infectious diseases. African American children who may not afford a good life are taken to schools that do not care much about the sanitary conditions, making them vulnerable to infections from other children. Malnourished children lack enough Iron, Zinc as well as Vitamin A are the nutrients associated with weakening the function of the immune system in children. Malnourished children may also suffer from gastrointestinal infection due to the inability to absorb nutrients normally, and this may lead to growth retardation. Besides, deficiency of one nutrient leads to one or more nutrients in the body being deficient, and this affects the overall growth of the child (Katona & Katona-Apte, 2008).
In conclusion, malnutrition is something that needs attention, not only to the affected children and their parents, but also to all Americans, because it causes economic loss and eventually dragging the economy of United States. African American communities are faced with a challenge of focusing on under-nutrition, but they should yearn to on alternative way of eating, if they cannot manage to eat the way they should. The best known alternative is to get balanced diet food is through supplementation or food fortification, and this will ensure that children get the right amounts of nutrients at affordable prices. The only way that people can accomplish equal opportunities in both learning and earning is by providing an equal opportunity in nutrition especially in children. Therefore, all Americans must work together regardless of race and color, to ensure that all children have access to affordable, convenient, as well as effective essential nutrients that will help in their overall growth development and who they will become.
References
Collins, S., Dent, N., Binns, P., Bahwere, P., Sadler, K., & Hallam, A. (2006). Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition in Children. The Lancet, 368(9551), 1992-2000.
Hidden hunger: America’s growing malnutrition epidemic. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/feb/10/nutrition-hunger-food-children-vitamins-us
Katona, P., & Katona-Apte, J. (2008). The Interaction between Nutrition and Infection. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 46(10), 1582-1588.
Müller, O., & Krawinkel, M. (2005). Malnutrition and Health in Developing Countries. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 173(3), 279-286.
