Discussion Main / StarvingStudent

The New England Journal of Medicine described, in the late 1990s, several cases of scurvy (Vitamin C deficiency) seen in students who had chosen a severely restricted diet - consisted almost entirely of instant noodles - because of cost. Although these diets lack many necessary nutrients, Vit C deficiency would be the first to become obvious due to the human body's inability to store or manufacture the substance. Less drastically, low-grade anaemia (iron deficiency) is epidemic among students (especially females) due to the combined factors of cost and culture: the best source of iron is red meat which is expensive, often difficult to source good quality, and shunned by vegetarians as well as those worried about hormones, BSE, saturated fats etc. The consumption of red meat (and offal) has dropped dramatically in the USA and Western Europe since the 1970s, with consequent public health effects. Likewise, young people's consumption of milk has dropped dramatically too, leading to fears of calcium deficiency and osteoporosis amongst teenage girls - which is the reason behind the high profile Got Milk? ads.

^ Red meat isn't even close to being the best source for iron, and milk is considered by many nutritionists to cause osteoporosis, not prevent. My impression has long been that the consumption of all animal products has done nothing but increase since well before the 1970s. I'm deleting most of this comment, but I thought I'd leave a topic about it just in case.

Even when the tuition isn't a problem there's always the need to support oneself and most students are separated from their families and receive only a limited support from them. Something has to suffer, and for MANY it's their income.

^ This seemed to me rather unnecessary (real life isn't the focus of this article, and there is earlier mention of scholarship students still struggling to pay for everyday things) and it sort of missed the point where this is about food not the money you make/have.