Health and Wellness: Occupational Illnesses, Nutrition, and Infections

Posted on Feb 15, 2025 in Biology

Occupational Illnesses

Occupational illnesses are a serious problem for working people due to workplace-specific hazards. Sources of occupational illness include:

  • Paint industries
  • Cement industries
  • Coal industries
  • Pesticide industries
  • Pharmaceutical industries
  • Radioactive manufacturing industries
  • Mineral extraction (heavy metal extraction)

Occupational Diseases

  • Skin disorders: Allergic reactions, dermatitis, skin rashes, itching, skin cancer
  • Respiratory disorders: Shortness of breath, chest pain, chest tightness, abnormal breathing pattern, asthma, etc.
  • Neurological disorders: Headache, memory disturbance, peripheral neuropathy, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and stroke
  • Hematological disorders: Leukemia, blood disorders, etc.
  • Musculoskeletal disorders: Muscular spasm, tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, ligament sprain
  • Hepatic disorders: Hepatitis A, B, and C, cirrhosis
  • Cardiovascular disorders: Ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), coronary artery disease (CAD), heart arrhythmia, dilated cardiomyopathy, pulmonary stenosis

Drugs and Their Misuses

Psychotropic Products

Psychotropic drugs affect mood, thoughts, and behaviors, directly impacting mental activity. They are generally used to maintain brain chemicals, or neurotransmitters, like dopamine, GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), norepinephrine, and serotonin.

Major Classes of Legal Psychotropic Medications:

  • Antipsychotics
  • Antidepressants
  • Anti-anxiety agents
  • Mood stabilizers
  • Stimulants

Misuse of Psychotropic Drugs

Many people use psychotropic drugs to relieve stress and anxiety, but long-term use can cause addictive effects on the brain and dependency. Some people also use them to increase working efficiency.

Narcotics Products

Narcotics bind directly to brain opioid receptors and relieve moderate to severe pain. Commonly abused drugs include opioids, cannabinoids, and coca alkaloids, many of which are obtained from flowering plants or fungi.

Misuse of Narcotics

These drugs are prescribed and should not be used without a prescription due to the risk of dependency. Many people misuse these substances as stimulants.

Alcohol

The alcohol generally used is ethyl alcohol. It is also used as medication in limited amounts for stress and depression relief.

Misuse of Alcohol

Alcohol can cause addiction. High doses can cause dangerous effects, including loss of mental alertness and wild behavior.

Tobacco

Tobacco contains many chemical substances, including nicotine, an alkaloid. Nicotine stimulates the adrenal gland to release adrenaline and noradrenaline into the blood circulation, raising blood pressure and increasing heart rate. Smoking is associated with increased incidence of cancers of the lung, urinary bladder, and throat, bronchitis, emphysema, coronary heart disease, gastric ulcer, etc. Tobacco chewing is associated with an increased risk of cancer of the oral cavity.

Nutrition and Health

Nutrition: Nutrition encompasses the biochemical and physiological processes by which an organism uses food to support life.

Health: Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and the absence of disease. The oldest definition of health is the absence of disease.

Types of Health:

  1. Physical Health
  2. Mental Health
  3. Social Health
  4. Spiritual Health

Physical Health

Physical health is defined as the state in which every cell and organ functions at optimum capacity and in perfect harmony with the rest of the body. It indicates that all body organs are structurally and functionally in a normal state.

Mental Health

Mental health is defined as a state of balance between the individual and the surrounding world, including the environment, and a state of harmony between oneself and others.

Types of Mental Health:
  1. Neurosis
  2. Depression
  3. Schizophrenia

Social Health

Spiritual Health

Spiritual health is defined as the quantity and quality of an entire personality and the extent of involvement with the community. It involves a connection with the spiritual soul, directing the person to do right and avoid bad habits. Spiritual health refers to the part of the individual that reaches for the purpose of life.

Macro and Micro Nutrients

Macro Nutrients

Macro nutrients are essential nutrients the body needs in large quantities to remain healthy. They provide the body with energy, help prevent disease, and allow the body to function correctly. The three main types are:

  1. Protein
  2. Fats
  3. Carbohydrates

Protein

Protein consists of long chains of amino acids. They help in the growth, development, repair, and maintenance of body tissues.

Requirement: 10 – 35%

Source: Meat, chicken, fish, nuts, seeds, whole grains, beans, eggs, dairy, and soy.

Fats

Fats are an important part of the diet that can also provide the body with energy.

Requirement: 20 – 35%

Source: Oily fish, olive oil, nuts, meat, butter, and cheese.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are a preferred source of energy for several body tissues and the primary energy source for the brain.

Requirement: 45 – 65%

Source: Rice, potatoes, corn, honey, dairy, beans, sugars, etc.

Micro Nutrients

Micro nutrients are one of the major groups of nutrients your body needs. They include vitamins and minerals. The content of each food is different, so it’s best to eat a variety of foods to get enough vitamins and minerals. They are critical for several important functions in your body and must be consumed from food.

Importance of Water

  1. Help in digestion: Watery saliva helps in lubrication and breaks down food into smaller particles. Water helps in softening fecal matter for easy passage from the rectum.
  2. In circulation: Nutrients are absorbed by the blood/lymph vessels from the stomach and intestine and transported throughout the body due to the watery nature of blood and lymph.
  3. Organ functioning: Each organ requires water for proper working and metabolism (e.g., brain, heart, lungs, kidney, liver).
  4. Regulation in body temperature: Water plays an important role in thermoregulation.

Food Fortification and Fibers

Fortification of Food

Fortification is the practice of deliberately increasing the content of one or more micronutrients like vitamins and minerals in a food or condiment to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply and provide a public health benefit with minimal risk to health. Fortification and genetic engineering help maintain and recover our populations’ needs and requirements.

Importance of Fibers

Fibers are essential substances needed for digestion, excretion, and proper body function. Generally, fibers are made up of the cellulose or lignin of plant parts. Cellulose is not digested in the body, so fibers are divided into two categories based on digestion:

Soluble Fibers

These fibers have less cellulosic components and are easily digested by the proteolytic enzymes of the body, converting into gel form. They slow down the digestion process.

Examples: Seeds, beans, apples, nuts, and some citrus fruits.

Insoluble Fibers

These fibers have more cellulosic components and are not digested by proteolytic enzymes, passing relatively unchanged through the stomach and supporting the digestion process.

Examples: Grains, papaya, banana, and some vegetables.

Important Functions of Fibers

  1. Help in digestion: Fibers support the food material in the intestine, allowing it to easily pass through the anal/rectal region.
  2. Maintain cholesterol level: Fibers help excrete unwanted cholesterol from the body.
  3. Maintain blood sugar level: Fibers regulate blood sugar levels by helping in the absorption and removal of essential substances.
  4. Prevention in GIT infections: Fibers can prevent severe problems like piles and help treat indigestion, constipation, and disturbed digestion.

Classification of Food Based on Function

The dietary constituents of food are proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water. Proteins, fats, and carbohydrates are called macro nutrients, while vitamins and minerals are known as micro nutrients.

Energy-Producing Foods

These foods are rich in carbohydrates and fats, supplying heat and energy to the body.

Examples: Sugar, honey, jellies

Bodybuilding Foods

These are foods rich in proteins, required for body building and are anabolic foods.

Examples: Meat, fish, pulses, oils, seeds, eggs, nuts, milk, etc.

Protective Foods

  • These are foods rich in proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water.
  • They provide material for repair in the body and are required for the maintenance and regulation of tissue functions.

Examples: Milk, eggs, liver, green leafy vegetables, fruits.

Food Adulteration

Food adulteration is the process of contaminating food materials by adding substances called adulterants. This is a common phenomenon in developing countries.

Example: Milk can be diluted by adding water to increase its quantity.

Artificial Ripening

Effect of Artificially Ripening

Artificial ripening involves treating harvested fruits without considering their maturity status, using ripening agents to induce better cosmetic quality and appearance.

  1. Artificial ripening of fruits: Improves appearance, but taste, smell, and touch are often weak. Ethylene and acetylene promote ripening and cause color change.
  2. Natural ripening of fruits: A physiological process that makes fruits edible, tasty, and nutritious, increasing sweetness, decreasing bitterness, and changing color and appearance.
  3. Adverse health effects of artificial ripening: Symptoms of arsenic or phosphorus poisoning include diarrhea, weakness, vomiting, and burning sensations in the chest and abdomen.

Dietary and Food Supplements

  • Food and dietary supplements include vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other products.
  • They are available in pills, capsules, powders, and energy bars.
  • They help you get adequate amounts of essential nutrients if you don’t eat a nutritious variety of foods.

Nutraceuticals

  • Nutraceuticals are substances with physiological benefits or protection against chronic diseases.
  • They are used to improve health, prevent chronic diseases, and increase life expectancy.
  • Products are isolated from herbal products, dietary supplements (nutrients), and specific diets.

Drug-Food Interaction

  • A change in a drug’s effect on the body when taken with certain foods or beverages.
  • Not all drugs are affected by food, and some drugs are affected by only certain foods.
  • Drug-food interactions can delay, decrease, or enhance drug absorption, affecting the drug’s action or causing adverse effects.

Infectious Diseases

Rubella

Causative agent: The causative agent of general measles.

Symptoms/Clinical Presentation: Headache, stuffy or runny nose, inflamed, red eyes.

Epidemiology: Occurs every 6 to 9 years, with pandemics every 10 to 30 years. The last worldwide pandemic occurred from 1962 to 1964.

Mumps

Causative agent: A viral illness caused by a paramyxovirus.

Clinical Presentation: Fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness, loss of appetite. Symptoms typically appear 16 to 18 days after infection.

Epidemiology: There are between 100 and 1000 cases per 100,000 people each year.

H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu)

Causative agent: Caused by the influenza virus.

Symptoms: Fever, chills, cough, sore throat, watery, red eyes, fatigue, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. Symptoms develop about one to three days after exposure.

Epidemiology: In the US, the number of clinical illnesses was estimated at 59 million, with 265,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 deaths.

SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)

Causative agent: Caused by COVID-19.

Symptoms: Aches, chills, diarrhea, dry cough, low oxygen levels.

Epidemiology: Originated in southern China in November 2020 and was brought to Hong Kong in February 2003.

Intestinal Infections

Amebiasis

Causative agent: Caused by the parasite Entamoeba histolytica.

Symptoms/Clinical Presentation: Loose feces, stomach pain, and stomach cramping.

Epidemiology: Only about 10% to 20% of infected people become sick, and most do not become seriously ill.

Worm Infestations

Causative agent: Causes include contact with infected surfaces, consuming infected food or water, improper hygiene, and inadequate hand washing.

Symptoms/Clinical Presentation: Abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, gas, bloating, fatigue, unexplained weight loss.

Epidemiology: Overall prevalence of intestinal worm infection was found to be 49.38%. Ascaris was the most common parasite (46.88%), followed by Taenia (2.1%) and Hymenolepis nana (0.21%).

Food Poisoning

Causative agent: Caused by eating contaminated food. Infectious organisms (bacteria, viruses, and parasites) or their toxins are the most common causes.

Symptoms/Clinical Presentation: Nausea, vomiting, watery or bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramps, fever.

Epidemiology: The US CDC estimates that 1 in 6 Americans (48 million people) are affected by foodborne illness annually, resulting in 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.

Arthropod-Borne Infections

Dengue

Causative agent: Caused by the dengue virus (DENV), transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes.

Symptoms/Clinical Presentation: Nausea, vomiting, rash, aches and pains, a positive tourniquet test, leukopenia, and warning signs like abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, clinical fluid accumulation, mucosal bleeding, lethargy, restlessness, and liver enlargement.

Epidemiology: The incidence of dengue has increased to about 15 per million people annually in different states in India. Every year, more than 100,000 infections and 200–400 deaths occur throughout India.

Surface Infections

Trachoma

Causative agent: Caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis.

Symptoms/Clinical Presentation: Pinkeye, heartburn, enanthem, grippe, blinding, struma, ablepsia, pink eye, Bloodstroke, influenza, polio, cataract, cholera, green sickness, trachea, hay fever, etc.

Epidemiology: Trachoma is hyperendemic in many of the poorest and most rural areas of Africa, Central and South America, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East. It is responsible for the blindness or visual impairment of about 1.9 million people, causing about 1.4% of all blindness worldwide.

Tetanus

Causative agent: Caused by Clostridium tetani.

Symptoms/Clinical Presentation: Bloody stools, diarrhea, fever, headache.

Leprosy

Causative agent: Caused by slow-growing bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae.

Symptoms/Clinical Presentation: A stuffy nose, nosebleeds, growths (nodules) on the skin, thick, stiff or dry skin, painless ulcers on the soles of feet, painless swelling or lumps on the face or earlobes, loss of eyebrows or eyelashes.

Epidemiology: Every year, around 400,000 new cases of leprosy occur in India, contributing about 80% of the global leprosy case load.