CLINICAL NUTRITION

Lesson 2: Protein calorie malnutrition

Nutrient reserves

The safety factor upon which the occurrence of a nutritional inadequacy and the development of deficiency disease depend is the nutrient reserves upon which the tissues may draw during temporary lapses in the supply of nutrients. There is a time lapse between initial exposure to a nutritional inadequacy, either primary or conditioned, and the onset of a nutritional disease. This time period may be short or long depending on the initial level of nutrient reserves and the degree of nutritional inadequacy. The function of these reserves is to supply a metabolic pool or a relatively constant level of nutrients. The reserves may be

• Very large, as is the case with vitamin A
  
  
• May also be relatively small, as is true of a labile protein or thiamine