Diseases

Protein Deficiency

A nutritional condition produced by a deficiency of proteins in the diet, characterized by adaptive enzyme changes in the liver, increase in amino acid synthetases, and diminution of urea formation, thus conserving nitrogen and reducing its loss in the urine. Growth, immune response, repair, and production of enzymes and hormones are all impaired in severe protein deficiency. Protein deficiency may also arise in the face of adequate protein intake if the protein is of poor quality (i.e., the content of one or more amino acids is inadequate and thus becomes the limiting factor in protein utilization). (From Merck Manual, 16th ed; Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 12th ed, p406)

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

A nutritional condition produced by a deficiency of proteins in the diet, characterized by adaptive enzyme changes in the liver, increase in amino acid synthetases, and diminution of urea formation, thus conserving nitrogen and reducing its loss in the urine. Growth, immune response, repair, and production of enzymes and hormones are all impaired in severe protein deficiency. Protein deficiency may also arise in the face of adequate protein intake if the protein is of poor quality (i.e., the content of one or more amino acids is inadequate and thus becomes the limiting factor in protein utilization). (From Merck Manual, 16th ed; Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 12th ed, p406)

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Synonyms

3 entry terms
  • Deficiency, Protein
  • Deficiencies, Protein
  • Protein Deficiencies

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Aspects Covered

35 allowable subheadings

Indexed with the subheadings blood, cerebrospinal fluid, chemically induced, classification, complications, congenital, diagnosis, diagnostic imaging, diet therapy, drug therapy, economics, embryology, enzymology, epidemiology, ethnology, etiology, genetics, history, immunology, metabolism, microbiology, mortality, nursing, parasitology, pathology, physiopathology, prevention & control, psychology, radiotherapy, rehabilitation, surgery, therapy, urine, veterinary, virology.

MeSH Record

Indexing Annotation

deficiency of dietary protein, not genetic defic of specific proteins; consider also PROTEIN-CALORIE MALNUTRITION

MeSH Hierarchy

Tree Number

  1. C18.654w.521w.500.708

MeSH Record

NLM Classification

QU 55.4

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Protein Deficiency. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D011488. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D011488
  2. Protein Deficiency. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18966920