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Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake needed to maintain human life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage〔(Disease-Related Malnutrition: An Evidence-Based Approach to Treatment ) "When () intake is poor or absent for a long time (weeks), weight loss is associated with organ failure and death."〕 and eventually, death. The term ''inanition'' refers to the symptoms and effects of starvation. Starvation may also be used as a means of torture or execution. According to the World Health Organization, hunger is the single gravest threat to the world's public health.〔(Malnutrition ) The Starvelings〕 The WHO also states that malnutrition is by far the biggest contributor to child mortality, present in half of all cases.〔 Undernutrition is a contributory factor in the death of 3.1 million children under five every year.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work=World Food Programme )〕 Figures on actual starvation are difficult to come by, but according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the less severe condition of undernourishment currently affects about 842 million people, or about one in eight (12.5%) people in the world population.〔FAO: (The State of Food Insecurity in the World )〕 The bloated stomach, as seen in the picture to the right, represents a form of malnutrition called kwashiorkor which is caused by insufficient protein despite a sufficient caloric intake.〔http://www.bettermedicine.com/article/kwashiorkor〕 Children are more vulnerable to kwashiorkor whose advanced symptoms include weight loss and muscle wasting.〔 ==Common causes== The basic cause of starvation is an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. In other words, the body expends more energy than it takes in. This imbalance can arise from one or more medical conditions and/or circumstantial situations, which can include: Medical reasons *Anorexia nervosa *Bulimia nervosa *Eating disorder, not otherwise specified *Celiac disease *Coma *Major depressive disorder *Diabetes mellitus *Digestive disease *Constant vomiting Circumstantial causes *Faminefor any reason, such as political strife and war. *Excessive Fasting *Poverty The main causes of starvation are as follows: #The most common cause of starvation is the economy; poor people sometimes cannot buy enough foodstuffs and thereby fail to fulfill the caloric demands of the body. #Starvation may be due to food scarcity in the society. This causes decreased supply of food to the whole of the population, and thus mass starvation may occur. #Starvation may be due to diseases that can cause rapid weight loss either due to the nature of the disease or the inability of the person to either eat or eat enough due to symptoms including, but not limited to: fatigue, nausea, or vomiting. The person may also be the host to a parasite such as an intestinal worm which may take a significant amount of the calories ingested by its host. This effect is exacerbated if the human host is already ingesting far less food than is required to meet their daily caloric intake needs. #There are some clinical conditions such as recovering from surgery or burns etc., in which the person may be too fatigued or incapacitated to eat enough during their period of convalescence. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Starvation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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