QLexNursing

🔵 When carbohydrate intake is inadequate, the body turns to protein (muscle tissue) as an alternate energy source through gluconeogenesis.

🔵 This leads to breakdown of skeletal muscle, causing muscle wasting and loss of lean body mass.

🔵 Protein catabolism reduces muscle strength, impairs immunity, and slows metabolic processes.

🔵 Muscle breakdown occurs because the body must maintain blood glucose for the brain and red blood cells in the absence of carbs.

🔵 Therefore, low carbohydrate intake leads to muscle wasting, making this the correct complication.

Obesity

🔵 Obesity results from excess calorie intake, not carbohydrate deficiency.

🔵 Low carbohydrate intake tends to cause weight loss, not weight gain, because the body turns to fat and protein for energy.

🔵 Restricting carbohydrates does not biologically promote fat accumulation.

🔵 Many weight-loss diets (e.g., low-carb) are based on carbohydrate reduction, which directly contradicts this option.

🔵 Thus, obesity is not a complication of insufficient carbohydrates.

Type 2 diabetes

🔵 Type 2 diabetes is linked to insulin resistance and high carbohydrate intake, not carbohydrate deficiency.

🔵 Low carb intake does not impair insulin function or elevate blood glucose.

🔵 Diabetes develops from metabolic dysregulation, obesity, genetics, and inactivity—not from low carbohydrate consumption.

🔵 Carbohydrate deficiency cannot cause a condition characterized by chronically elevated blood sugar.

🔵 Therefore, this option is incorrect.

Tooth decay

🔵 Tooth decay results from high sugar intake, especially simple carbs, which promote bacterial acid production in the mouth.

🔵 Low carbohydrate intake actually reduces the risk of dental caries.

🔵 When carbs are insufficient, bacteria have less substrate to metabolize into damaging acids.

🔵 This option conflicts with well-established dental risk factors.

🔵 Therefore, tooth decay is not a complication of carbohydrate deficiency.