In the 1940s and 1950s, the major nutritional diseases prevalent in large sections of the population were kwashiorkar (acute protein-energy malnutrition), keratomalacia (attributable to severe vitamin A deficiency), beri-beri (arising from vitamin B1 deficiency) and pellagra (nicotinic acid deficiency). Over the course of two to three decades, the most florid manifestations of these malnutritio...
