Dietary deficiency

Abstract

A definition of health should include the concept of sustainability or the ability of the ecosystem to support life in quantity and quality. Entrapment occurs when a community exceeds the food-carrying capacity of the land, when it lacks the ability to obtain food to sustain its population, or when its people are forced to migrate from a bad to a worse situation. Entrapment leads to dependence on outside aid, forced migration, starvation or civil war. Reduced mortality rate, continuing high birth rates, increased longevity, poor uptake of contraception and precarious food sources raise the question of whether populations are in danger of entrapment.

• Famine is a failure to provide adequate nutrition to sustain a population

• Famine is found where there is a failure of crops or supply of food due to adverse weather, war, social deprivation or pestilence.