Natural Sciences and Technology Grade 6-A - Thunderbolt Kids

Causes of apoor diet
There are many causes of apoor diet.
1. Diseases and infections: When someone has achronic illness,
such as HIV/AIDS, they are sick for a very long time. Their
bodies become weak and they cannot take in nourishment
from the food they manage to eat, resulting in a poor diet.
2. Dietary practices: In many countries, people have a
preference for certain foods, for example rice, samp or mealie
meal. People eat a lot of this particular food type and do not
get enough protein or fats and oils in their diet. They also
often cannot aord other food types, especially in developing
countries. However, some families in developed countries do
not eat enough fruit and vegetables out of choice and eat a
lot of refined carbohydrates which also leads to disease and
illness.
3. Poverty and high food prices: Poverty and high food prices
stop many people from enjoying foods such as milk, meat,
poultry (like chicken) and fruits. This has made it almost
impossible for poor families to aord certain food groups.
Some families can only aordone type of food group.
4. Food shortage: Sometimes famine occurs in a country where
drought, poor farming knowledge and skill, and alack of
technology limits the yield of crops and herds of animals. This
results in afood shortage in that country.
In these situations, people will eat whatever food is available to
them, often leading to an unhealthy diet. DID YOU KNOW?
An unhealthy diet can lead to many health problems because the
body does not get the right amount of the dierent food groups
and therefore cannot function properly.
Some diseases and conditions
Often we get diseases and conditions because our bodies do not
get the necessary nourishment. Some of these diseases are:
• Tooth decay: When you eat or drink too much sugar, the
bacteria in your mouth makes acids that eat away at the tooth
surface (called enamel), and causes cavities to form.
Chapter 3. Nutrition
A balanced diet also
means drinking water
throughout the day!
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