During Rhonda's freshman year of college she experienced many environmental changes which influenced her diet and lifestyle. Rhonda was fearful of gaining "the freshman fifteen" and also had a limited food budget. To save money and avoid gaining unwanted weight she decided that she would only eat fruit for breakfast and salads for lunch and skip dinner. She soon found herself getting very hungry

Question

in the evenings and would then overeat food from the vending machines and cheap fast foods. She often snacked on cookies, fried foods, pasta, ice cream, and diet soda. As the school year progressed Rhonda had recurrent bouts of respiratory illness and felt chronically fatigued. Upon visiting the college health service the doctor diagnosed her with iron-deficiency anemia and speculated that in addition to not getting enough iron she was probably not getting enough protein or B-vitamins. By the end of the school year Rhonda not only had overall poor health but she had also gained a significant amount of weight despite not eating dinner and overall under-consumption of nutrients. Rhonda has registered for a nutrition class in the fall and hopes to learn how to better manage her diet and weight during her sophomore year. Which of the following nutrition concepts best explains the relationship between Rhonda's diet and her recurrent bouts of illness and chronic fatigue?
A) Nutrient-dense foods are the only type of foods that Rhonda should be eating to avoid deficiency diseases.
B) The deficiency of essential nutrients in Rhonda's diet caused a ripple effect and contributed to multiple health problems.
C) Rhonda's lack of nonessential nutrient intake caused her to develop deficiency diseases.
D) Rhonda's human adaptive mechanism was not working properly to avoid deficiency diseases.

Answer 1

B