The Role of Gut Microbiota in the Exaggeration of Kwashiorkor

The relationship between the human gut microbiome to health and disease is strong. Human physiology, metabolism, nutrition, and immune function are all affected by the composition of the gut. If the composition of the gut microbiome is altered in a way that any of these functions are negatively affected, this can lead to disease. The developments of the microbiome, its complexity, and its functionality in health and disease have been extensively studied. In addition, the way in which it is altered has many implications in the cause of diseases, such as bowel disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer.

In its State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012 report, the United Nations found that nearly 870 million people around the globe are chronically malnourished (Ruttan 6).  Chronic malnourishment weakens the immune system, and it significantly increases people's risk of contracting infectious diseases. As a result of the problem and severity of malnourishment, one of the United Nations top eight goals is to drastically reduce the number of people who suffer from this condition (Johnson 4). During the course of working towards their goal, the U.N. has identified agricultural growth as one of the most effective ways to reduce the prevalence of malnourishment. However, the United Nation has also determined that in order for agricultural growth

The gut microbiota is extremely diverse – consisting of over 1,000 identified unique species of bacteria. It is indeed difficult to wrap one’s head around it – despite bacteria being microscopically small, and having an undetectable mass, the bacteria of the gut in a human can weigh over 2 pounds! This incredibly diverse mass of bacteria is also mostly unique on an individual basis – over 70% of the bacteria per gut are unique to each person [1]. Thus, the gut microbiota of each individual can effectively function as a unique source of identity.

In the ethnography, “Dancing Skeletons, the author Katherine Dettwyler describes many reasons for her research in Mali. The main focus of her research was too attack the problem of malnourished children and to figure out what diseases they were struggling with. This ethnography detailed Dettwyler’s second trip to Mali, and she wanted to relocate many of the children she had previously measured, as well as add more children to her study. Throughout the ethnography, Dettwyler makes it very clear that the malnutrition of these children is a major problem in Mali. She describes many of the children she measures and the picture she paints in one’s mind is horrifying. One of the many diseases she comes across is Kwashiorkor,

“What does malnutrition look like? Most of us think of bloated bellies or skin and bones, but the appearance of a hungry child might surprise you. Internationally hunger often stunts growth. Imagine a 9-year-old who appears to be only 5” (“Feed the Children.” Feed). Almost 1 billion kids worldwide live in poverty and 1 in 4 children around the world suffer from malnutrition that stunts growth (“Feed the Children.” Give). This is a very big problem not only in America but everywhere else, malnutrition is the cause of almost half of child deaths each year around the world (“Feed the Children.” Give). It is close to impossible for a malnourished child to recover from diarrhea or to fight off a small illness because their immune system is just simply too weak (“Feed the Children.”

The lack of growth and development begin to occur when the body does not take in enough calcium. Calcium is very important part for the body to function because it has the function to keep bones strong and without calcium the bones will become weak and break easily. Also, it will lead to stunted growth in the body and the person will not be able to grow properly. In addition, malnutrition can occur when children or the poor community does not get enough to eat and is requiring the need of nutritions and other minerals. Suffering from malnutrition will cause extensive amount of disease to manifest in the human body. Also, it will be harder for the body to fight off disease and people will become more vulnerable to catching different type of diseases. Pedro A Sanchez stated, “The death rate from diseases such as lower respiratory infection, malaria, and measles…Undernourished people infected with HIV/AIDS develop the full symptoms” (1). The poor population is longing for the access to healthy food in order to prevent terrible disease like this from occurring. It is very hard to treat and prevent these different variety of disease from happening without having the money to get the proper care and medical attention.

A major challenge and cause of serious medical issues in Sub-Saharan Africa is the lack of access to a clean water supply. There are 345 million people that lack access to water in Africa. Unfortunately, when water is available it is high in contamination. When wells are built and water sanitation facilities are developed, they cannot be maintained properly to due to limited financial resources. Water quality testing is not performed as often as necessary and the people are unaware that the water may not be safe to drink. Oftentimes, when a source of water has been provided, the quantity of water is often given more attention over the quality of. Lack of clean drinking is the leading cause of diarrheal diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa and causes 7.7% of deaths in Africa. Diarrhea is caused by numerous bacterial, viral and parasitic organisms most of which can be spread by contaminated water. The importance of diarrheal diseases has mostly been overlooked. Through UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) there have been some accomplishments during the

In 2007, the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) was begun by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to obtain a better comprehension of the sophisticated biological reactions between the microbiome and individuals. By utilizing of revolutionary culture-independent technology, the specialists in the HMP plan to accomplish two key points: to test the microbial communities found at many various locations in the human body and to examine the function of these microbes in mankind 's health and diseases (Scher and Abramson, 2011). It has become obvious that bacteria groups vary not only among people but also within the human being, upon on the body site sampled and the sampling time (Pineda et al. 2011; Huttenhower C, 2012). In this review, I will review the role of the microbiome in the development and progression of

The article itself fairly discusses the effects of the revised WIC guidelines on malnutrition among children. As a whole, the content and subheadings are organized in a way that the reader expects the experiment to be. Its abstract is in an outlined description form where each of the parts is explained with the corresponding content as expected by the reader. The list of references is also credible where the authors combined books, journals, and online resources as well. Government agencies are also listed in the references pages to confirm the credibility of this study. In general, the article is well-researched and its utilization of statistics to measure the results of its data is done efficiently.

Introduction: Madagascar, an island country in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Southeast Africa, has been battling with stunting in children under the age of 5 due to their lack of resources. The scholarly article Chronic Malnutrition in Madagascar states “stunting is a result of chronic malnutrition during gestation and early childhood (the first 1000 days) has lifelong implications well beyond physical size” (Hadar, 2016). Malnutrition not only leads to growing problems for the children, but also is prone to making the children’s immune systems low so they are more likely to get sick. Nutritional stunting is from not getting the right nutrients that the body needs to grow. Symptoms like diarrhea, and other recurrent infections can occur in early childhood, and before birth too.

These complex communities play an important role in health and have been implicated in the pathogenesis of diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity. The microbiota living symbiotically with their host are generally non-pathogenic and have evolved with humans in order to combat colonization by harmful bacteria while extracting energy from non-digestible polysaccharides. There are many factors that contribute to the stability of the gut microbiome. Typically, the gut microbiome is established at birth and differs with mode of delivery (vaginally vs. cesarean) [7,9]. Therefore, the manner in which a child is born influences the composition of bacteria. Other factors include host environment, genetics and lifestyle, the latter of which is the focus of this proposal [8,16]. The gut flora are beneficial to humans as they provide essential nutrients while also acting as an adaptive immune system [7, 23]. Research has suggested that antigens released from gut microbiota can be absorbed and infiltrate adipose tissue, thereby worsening chronic inflammation and oxidative stress associated with obesity [23]. Therefore, identifying the specific microbiome of an individual can be diagnostic of metabolic disorders [8] and may contribute to impaired endothelium-mediated

The human body contains trillions of resident bacteria that make up the gut microbiome. These bacteria establish a symbiotic relationship with the host cells and the immune system. Imbalance of the gut microbiota, or dysbiosis, is associated with a number of diseases including Clostridium difficile infection (C. diff), autoimmune diseases, diabetes, obesity, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an emerging therapy used to treat gut microbiome disorders, most notably the diarrheal infection due to C. diff.Seektaz Recently, there have been efforts to use FMT as a therapy for other diseases such as Ulcerative colitis (UC). This condition is an inflammatory bowel disease that is also characterized by an imbalance in the gut microbiome.

According to the results it shows there is a malnutrition problem across both setting due to the fact there is a high percentage of at risk elders in both populations (Donini, L., et al., 2013). When taking care of the elderly population is it important to be able to recognize when there is malnourishment occurring. Malnutrition is associated with decreased immune function and muscle, impaired wound healing, impaired quality of life, and maybe an increased hospital stay (Donini, L., et al., 2013). When looking at the malnourishment it is important to be able to identify what the causes of it are, if the nurse or caretaker is unable to identify the problem then it will never get fixed. Some signs of malnourishment among the elderly are increased nutrient loss such as bronchitis or kidney failure and involuntary weight loss (Donini, L., et al., 2013). It is important to not only look at the physical factors, but also the psychological factors as well. It is imperative to look at all aspect of the patient because they all play hand in hand and if the nurse or caretaker only looks at one side they may never be able to truly understand why the patient is malnourished. Some psychological factors are deprived affection, loss of active social role, and depression (Donini, L., et al., 2013). It is important within the community to be able to analyze whether or not the population is more at risk for certain factors over others. The caretakers and nurses need to know the environment and see how it plays a factor in the populations’

The relationship between microbiota and human well-being is being recognized increasingly. Microbial communities are crucial to human health as they regulate immunological and metabolic pathways and alteration to them predisposes individuals to various diseases.4 This heavy dependence on microbes begins in the early stages of life, even before birth. Microbes colonize various sites in the body through many different processes. The gut microbiota is formed when the vaginal microbes, associated with preterm birth, access the placenta through the bloodstream and penetrate the intestinal epithelial barrier of the fetus.4 This was proven by two pioneer studies which investigated the microbial colonization of the fetus of pregnant mice by injecting a genetically labelled bacteria in the mice which was consequently found in the amniotic fluid of the offspring after a cesarean section.4 This proved maternal microbial transmission in mammals.

Many children in developing countries suffer from malnutrition and develop dietary diseases. Marasmus usually appears during the first year of life. It occurs when the mother is unable to produce enough breastmilk due to malnutrition, and bottled formula is out of the question. The baby’s poor diet and lack of vital nutrients cause the infant to become dangerously thin and put it at risk of death. Another illness cause by malnutrition is kwashiorkor. This disease usually affects children from ages 1 to 3 years old, and is caused by a diet very low in protein. With kwashiorkor, the body breaks down its own protein reserves, causing swelling and other symptoms. Children who survive these diseases often have lasting damage and grow to be smaller. Additionally, they tend to gain a large amount of weight when their diets improve due to the slow metabolism developed, and due to the disrupted appetite control center in the brain that causes the child to overeat when there is a lot of food. Learning and behavior are strongly impacted because of the malnutrition. The production of neurotransmitters are altered with a deficient diet so children can score low on intelligence tests, show poor fine-motor coordination, and struggle with paying attention (Berk,