Question

Marasmus is caused by
A) Obesity
B) Dwarfism
C) Prolonged starvation
D) Deficiency of vitamin

Answer 1

Hint:Deficiency diseases are the diseases caused due to dietary shortages that include deficiency of macronutrients, vitamins and nutritional requirements such as iron, calcium and iodine.

Complete answer:
The deficiency of vitamins leads to the shortage of related enzymes, resulting in functional disorders.
Marasmus is caused due to severe malnutrition and it is common in the children of developing countries. The deficiency of basic nutrients like iron, zinc, iodine, vitamins, proteins, etc. in the diet is the major cause of the disease.It is a disorder that occurs due to the deficiency of protein as well as calories mean prolonged starvation leads to itChildren suffering from this lose lots of muscle mass and subcutaneous fat. They also develop dry skin and brittle hair. The other symptoms are stunted growth, intellectual disability, chronic diarrhea, and respiratory infections. Such children have no energy for any work and they look older than their age.The diagnosis of the disease can be done by looking at the physical condition of the child. The child has low energy and no subcutaneous fat.The disease is more common in children but can affect adults as well.The treatment involves giving children antibiotics for preventing them from any sort of infection.If a child is dehydrated then rehydration must be a priority.Providing the child nutritious food that can provide all the nutrients will help. Initially the child is given the dried skimmed milk powder with boiled water.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘C’.

Note:Deficiency diseases can be prevented by taking a healthy and balanced diet. A balanced diet is the diet containing all the nutrients including water and roughage in sufficient amounts.