Inanition
There may be a condition obtained in the body resulting from a lack of assimilation of food by the tissues, even though there is a sufficient amount of food taken into the body. This condition is known technically as inanition. Death will result in a short time when food is completely withheld whether the condition is that of starvation or inanition. There may be an interference with transmission of mental impulses to the digestive organs. This will interfere with digestion, and inanition will result because the food which is not properly digested can not be assimilated even though the tissue cells are perfectly normal. Inanition may also result from an interference with transmission, which prevents the tissue cells from performing their normal function in the process of assimilation. In this way the tissues starve for the want of food, not because there is a lack of nutrition in the body, but because the food taken into the system has not been properly broken down by the digestive secretions, or if it has been properly digested it has not been assimilated. It is a recognized fact that a large percentage of growing children are underweight. Authors differ as to the percentage. It ranges all the way from 15% to 60%. This condition is not necessarily caused by an insufficient amount of proper food, for the condition has been found more prevalent among the children of the wealthy than among those of the poorer classes. This shows that the cause for such malnutrition is within the child and not in the food that he is eating. In the large majority of cases it is either because the food is not being properly digested or is not being assimilated after it has been digested. It is quite necessary that there be a properly balanced diet, but even a perfectly balanced diet will not guarantee perfect assimilation. This can be accomplished only through unhindered transmission and expression of mental impulses in all parts of the body.