Dietary Differences in India, Italy and the U.S.

One of the most interesting and visible ways in which men and women express their cultural differences is through the food that they eat or do not eat. Each human being has certain biological needs that must be met by the same nutrients as those required by all other people. Yet the foods that supply these nutrients are as different as the environments in which people exist and the cultures through which people have adapted to their environments.

While the consequences of food intake are biological, the nature of food intake - what people eat, how, when, where, and how much - is heavily influenced by social, economic, political, and cultural processes. From the assessment of nutrient distribution at the national level to analysis of nutrient distribution within communities and families, social variables are an integral part of nutritional outcomes.

Human nutrition is a subject that defies precise definition, and placing boundaries around the subject as a scientific discipline is difficult. Although knowledge of required nutrients an

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rkor and marasmus - serious conditions that are often fatal to the young child. Kwashiorkor typically affects children who, after prolonged breastfeeding, are weaned on traditionally starchy staples or sugary foods. Marasmus, on the other hand, is usually attributed to a diet low in both protein and calories and is partly the clinical outcome of sheer lack of food. These severe, acute clinical effects of protein-energy malnutrition are relatively rare. More subtle effects - reduced growth rate, low body weight for age, and low body fat stores - are more commonly observed in children. This phenomenon is prevalent in India, which has an average calorie intake of about 1600 calories per person, which means that the average person suffers a shortage of at least 600 calories per day. Children by the millions suffer from stunted growth, lowered resistance to disease, and failure to survive to adulthood, due to malnutrition and its complications. In addition, the influence of traditions produce food prejudices or beliefs which limit the use of valuable food. India, despite the huge variety of meat available, and its wide range of consumption, has in many regions begun to question the taking of life for food, with particular re
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Approximate Word count = 2202
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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