Abstract
About three-fourths of the total world population live in the tropics but consume only 6% of worldwide food production and contribute 15% of the world's net revenue explaining the short life expectancy, high infantile mortality, and poor daily caloric intake; moreover, lack of clean drinking water and deficient sanitation promote water-borne infections, diarrhea, and risk of malabsorption that contribute to the prevalence of malnutrition in the tropics. One-third of the world's population consumes insufficient iodine increasing the risk for mental retardation and deafness due to maternal hypothyroidism. The main nutritional syndromes comprise protein-energy malnutrition (marasmus and kwashiorkor); nutritional neuropathies, myelopathies and neuromyelopathies, as well as specific deficiencies of vitamins and micronutrients including iodine, iron, zinc, and selenium.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 381-404 |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| Journal | Handbook of Clinical Neurology |
| Volume | 114 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 12 2013 |
Keywords
- α-tocopherol
- Alcohol
- Alcoholism
- Beriberi
- Burning feet
- Cobalamin
- Cuban epidemic neuropathy
- Folic acid
- Homocysteine
- Hunger
- Iodine
- Iron
- Kwashiorkor
- Malnutrition
- Marasmus
- Micronutrient deficiencies
- Myeloneuropathy
- Niacin
- Nicotinamide
- Night blindness
- Nutritional amblyopia
- Nutritional brain atrophy
- Nutritional myelopathy
- Nutritional neuropathy
- Omega-3 fatty acids
- Optic neuropathy
- Pantothenic acid
- Pellagra
- Polyneuropathy
- Prisoners of war
- Psychomotor retardation
- Pyridoxine deficiency
- Riboflavin
- Selenium
- Subacute combined degeneration
- Thiamin
- Tobacco-alcohol amblyopia
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin B-complex
- Vitamin B
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin E
- Vitamins
- Wernicke-Korsakoff
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Neurology
- Neurology