Deficiency Disease

What is Deficiency Disease?

A disease caused by the long-term shortage of a particular nutrient in the diet, in which the body process that depends on that nutrient begins to fail. Shortage of vitamin C causes scurvy, shortage of vitamin D or calcium contributes to rickets in children, and shortage of iron causes anaemia.

This definition is part of the Human Nutrition chapter in Cambridge O Level Biology.

Concepts related to Deficiency Disease

• scurvy
• rickets
• anaemia
• Balanced Diet