289 articles
Tribal food distribution and food sovereignty programs in the United States
Tribal food distribution and food sovereignty programs in the United States center on FDPIR, a federal program delivering monthly USDA food packages to income-eligible Native American households on or near reservations.
Undernutrition in children
Undernutrition in children: insufficient nutrient intake or utilization, manifesting as wasting, stunting, underweight, and micronutrient deficiencies; diagnosed by WHO growth-standard z-scores, linked to about 45% of under-5 deaths, and treated with ready-to-use therapeutic foods.
Underweight
Underweight: body weight below the healthy range, defined as BMI under 18.5 kg/m² in adults (WHO grades thinness below 17.0) and BMI below the 5th percentile in children; a screening-based nutritional status with defined pediatric faltering-weight criteria.
Underweight in adults
Underweight in adults: BMI below 18.5 kg/m2 per WHO, CDC, and ICD-11 code 5B54. Covers thinness grades, health risks, MUAC screening, NICE nutrition support criteria, and US and global prevalence trends.
UPSIDE Foods
UPSIDE Foods, formerly Memphis Meats, is a cultivated-meat company founded in 2015 by cardiologist Uma Valeti, which had raised $608 million as of July 2023.
Vanadium deficiency
Vanadium deficiency (ICD-11 5B5K.B) is a proposed trace-element deficiency state; no deficiency disease or symptoms have been identified in humans, while deficiency signs are established experimentally in rats, goats, and chicks.
Vegetable
Vegetable: culinary term for any edible plant part (leaves, roots, stems, bulbs) that is not a culinary fruit, nut, herb, spice, or grain; not a botanical category, unlike fruit.
Vegetable Products
Vegetable Products (MeSH D000067075, Polish Produkty warzywne) is a Medical Subject Heading for food manufactured from various parts of vegetables, established 2016 under the Vegetables descriptor, indexed with qualifiers such as analysis, economics, and microbiology.
Vernon Coleman
Vernon Coleman (born 1946, Walsall) is an English author, former GP, and columnist, also known as "Old Man In A Chair", who wrote over 100 books including The Medicine Men and Bodypower, and became a prominent source of debunked COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation.
Vitamin
Vitamins: 13 essential organic nutrients (A, C, D, E, K, B complex) needed in small amounts for normal cell function, split into fat-soluble and water-soluble groups, obtained from food, sunlight, supplements, and fortification.
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a group of fat-soluble retinoids, primarily retinol and retinyl esters, needed for vision, immune function, and growth. Deficiency remains a leading cause of preventable childhood blindness.
Vitamin A deficiency
Vitamin A deficiency (VAD, xerophthalmia, night blindness) is inadequate dietary vitamin A, defined by serum retinol below 0.70 µmol/L; it affects about 190 million preschool children and is a leading preventable cause of childhood blindness.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is a water-soluble vitamin from animal foods needed for DNA synthesis, red blood cells, and the nervous system; deficiency causes megaloblastic anemia and neurological damage, treatable orally or by injection.
Vitamin B12 deficiency
Vitamin B12 deficiency (cobalamin deficiency): low body B12 causing megaloblastic anemia and neurological symptoms; caused by pernicious anemia, malabsorption, metformin or PPI use, or vegan diets; treated with oral 1,000–2,000 mcg daily or intramuscular injections.
Vitamin B12-binding protein
Vitamin B12-binding proteins: intrinsic factor, transcobalamin, and haptocorrin, the three mammalian carriers that bind cobalamin with femtomolar affinity, mediate its gastric absorption, blood transport, and cellular uptake.
Vitamin B2 deficiency
Vitamin B2 deficiency (ariboflavinosis) is riboflavin insufficiency causing angular stomatitis, cheilosis, and anemia; diagnosed by EGRAC >1.4, treated with oral riboflavin, rare in the US but common in some surveyed populations.
Vitamin B3 deficiency
Vitamin B3 deficiency (niacin deficiency, pellagra) is a systemic disease from lack of niacin or tryptophan, causing dermatitis, diarrhea, dementia, and death if untreated; treated with nicotinamide.
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine and related vitamers) is a water-soluble vitamin and PLP coenzyme in over 100 enzyme reactions; US RDA 1.3 mg/day, EFSA 2023 upper limit 12 mg/day, high doses cause neuropathy.
Vitamin B6 deficiency
Vitamin B6 deficiency (pyridoxine deficiency, ICD-11 5B5D): uncommon nutritional disorder usually occurring with other B-vitamin deficiencies; causes microcytic anemia, dermatitis, glossitis, seizures, and confusion, treated with oral pyridoxine.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid, C6H8O6) is an essential water-soluble vitamin humans cannot synthesize; needed for collagen, carnitine, and neurotransmitter synthesis, antioxidant and iron absorption; deficiency causes scurvy; RDA 90/75 mg; isolated by Szent-Györgyi.
Vitamin C megadosage
Vitamin C megadosage, or megadosing, is taking gram-or-more doses of vitamin C on the belief it prevents colds and cancer, a practice championed by Linus Pauling in 1970.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D (calciferol): fat-soluble prohormone made in skin by UVB, activated via liver and kidney hydroxylations; forms D2 and D3; prevents rickets and osteomalacia; RDAs 600–800 IU.
Vitamin D and neurology
Vitamin D and neurology: the neurosteroid role of vitamin D (cholecalciferol, calcitriol) in the brain, its links to dementia, MS, Parkinson's disease, and depression, and why trials show limited benefit beyond correcting deficiency.
Vitamin D deficiency
Vitamin D deficiency, also called hypovitaminosis D, is low serum 25(OH)D causing rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Distinguished by 25(OH)D thresholds (<30 nmol/L deficient), UVB/dietary causes, and USPSTF findings against routine screening.
Vitamin D toxicity
Vitamin D toxicity (hypervitaminosis D) is hypercalcemia from excessive supplement intake, with 25(OH)D typically above 150 ng/mL; caused by supplement overuse, manufacturing errors, and fortification mistakes.
Vitamin deficiency
Vitamin deficiency: inadequate intake of one of the 13 essential vitamins (A, C, D, E, K, B vitamins), causing diseases such as scurvy, beriberi, pellagra, rickets, and pernicious anemia; prevented by diverse diets, fortification, and targeted supplementation.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is a fat-soluble nutrient of eight related compounds, only one of which, alpha-tocopherol, meets human requirements; it is found in nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils.
Vitamin E deficiency
Vitamin E deficiency, also called AVED when inherited, is rare α-tocopherol shortage from fat malabsorption, α-TTP genetic defects, or malnutrition, causing ataxia, neuropathy, anemia, and retinopathy, treated with high-dose oral vitamin E.
Vitamin K
Vitamin K (phylloquinone K1, menaquinones K2 incl. MK-4 and MK-7): fat-soluble cofactor of GGCX γ-carboxylation enabling clotting factors II, VII, IX, X; needs, warfarin interaction, newborn prophylaxis, bone and heart evidence.
Vitamin K deficiency
Vitamin K deficiency (VKD) is a common acquired coagulopathy impairing clotting factors II, VII, IX, and X. Also called vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB) in newborns, it is prevented by 1 mg intramuscular vitamin K prophylaxis at birth.