Interface of protein nutrition and medicine in the tropics

Abstract

Protein deficiency affects the organism's ability to synthesise proteins, and so its ability to recover from injury is limited. The effects of this restriction can be seen in a number of body systems, and this review looks at the role played by protein deficiency in the following conditions as they present in the tropics: cirrhosis, pancreatic calcification with diabetes, malabsorption, cardiomyopathy, and primary osteoporosis. The body's immune response and development are also affected in protein deficiency. These observations in clinical situations and the results of experiments with a primate (rhesus-monkey) model for human kwashiorkor demonstrate that impairment of cell division is the basic pathological lesion in protein deficiency.