Essentials of Nutrition

1. Essentials of Nutrition • Biology 114 OER • Dr. Michael Kobre, D.C. • “Lecture 1: Introduction to Nutrition PowerPoint" by Dr. Michael Kobre, Achieving the Dream OER Degree Initiative, Tompkins Cortland Community College is licensed under CC BY 4.0

2. Essentials of Nutrition • What are Foods? • Products from plants and animals or from synthetic forms that yield energy and nutrients for the normal maintenance of life and the growth and repair of tissues. • What is Diet? • Diet is the term for foods and beverages a person consumes. “The Angus Diet” versus Vegan diet.

3. Reasons for Food Choices • What a person consumes plays a significant role in quality of life. A person’s diet over time will directly affect their health in positive and negative ways. • Examples: Eating things that cause chronic diseases and short lifespan verses healthy longevity of life.

4. What Are Some Of The Reasons For Our Food Choices? • Personal Preference: Liking how food tastes such as sweet, spicy or salty. • Habit: People may select food out of habit. Eating the same cereal every morning. • Ethnic Heritage or Tradition: a strong influence on food choice. Who eats lots Pasta at many meals?

5. Reasons for Food Choices • Social Interactions: Eating with friends, at social events, and sharing foods with others. Think family gatherings, Birthday parties, Happy hour. • Availability, Convenience, Economy: People eat foods that are easy, fast, and within their financial boundries.

6. Reasons for Food Choices • Positive and Negative Associations: Folks like foods with happy associations, and people tend to dislike foods associated with bad experiences. • Emotional Comfort: Some folks eat in response to emotion, at times to relieve their stress, boredom and depression.

7. Reasons for Food Choices • Values: Food choices can often reflect a person’s religious beliefs, political views, or environmental concerns. For example boycotting food products a company produces because of animal rights issues. • What examples can you think of?

8. Reasons for Food Choices • Body Weight and Image: Sometimes people choose certain foods and supplements that they believe will improve their appearance and avoid foods they believe might be detrimental. Many times choices are not always based on sound nutritional knowledge or viable proven research.

9. Reasons for Food Choices • Nutrition: Finally, some consumers make food choices based on foods that are known to benefit health. • Many of these choices are based on natural organic foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, and some are based on food products researched and produced by food companies to enhance health.

10. What Are Nutrients? • There are 6 nutrient classes that include: carbohydrates, fats or lipids, protein, vitamins, minerals and water. • Nutrients are needed for the growth, maintenance, and repair of cells and body systems. Our body is constantly growing, maintaining and repairing itself.

11. The Nutrients • Essential nutrients: are nutrients that the body cannot syntheize on it’s own or cannot produce in sufficient quantities that the human body needs for normal functioning. • Chemical composition of the nutrients includes both organic (carbon containing) and inorganic compounds. • Maintaining healthy function requires the replenishment of energy and nutrients continuously from foods we consume.

12. Nutrients in Foods and in the Body • Our bodies (if in good health) can obtain all of the energy, structural mass, and regulating molecules from the foods we ingest on a daily basis. If, we consume a well-rounded moderate diet containing all the nutrients in proper portions, the human body is more likely to thrive. • Chemical analysis of the body has shown us that the body’s composition is very similar in makeup to the foods we eat.

13. Elemental makeup from Nutrients consumed "This work" by OpenStax College - Anatomy & Physiology, Connexions Web site is licensed under CC BY 4.0

14. Nutrients in Foods and in the Body • Most of the solid material in the body and foods we consume are carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. • If you removed these, you would find tiny amounts of micro molecules such as vitamins, minerals, and other compounds.

15. Composition of the Body • A complete mass analysis of the human body shows that the body is made of materials similar to those found in the foods that we consume. • “You are what you eat”

16. Composition of Nutrients • The simplest nutrients are the minerals. Each mineral is a chemical element; its atoms are all alike, and its identity never changes in the body or outside of it. • Minerals are considered inorganic, essential micronutrients (tiny-sized). • Examples: Iron, remains iron in the raw food, when we cook it, and after it becomes part of a red blood cell in the body.

17. Chemical Composition of Nutrients • Water is the next simplest nutrient. Water is a compound made of two elements- hydrogen and oxygen. • Both Minerals and Water are inorganic nutrients, meaning that they contain no carbon atoms.

18. Chemical Composition of Nutrients • The other four classes of nutrients are carbohydrates, lipids, protein, vitamins. These are more complex. In addition to hydrogen and oxygen, they all contain carbon, and element in all living things. Therefore they are considered organic.

19. Essential Nutrients • The body can synthesize some of the nutrients, but it can not make all of them. It can make some but in insufficient quantities to meet it’s demands. Therefore, it must obtain these nutrients from foods. The nutrients that food must supply are called essential nutrients (we need to consume these).

20. Energy-Yielding Nutrients • In the human body, three of the organic nutrients can be used to provide us with energy: carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. • Vitamins, minerals, and water do not yield energy in the human body. These nutrients are too small and don’t contain enough carbon or hydrogen atoms.

21. The Energy-Yielding Nutrients • The energy released from carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins can be measured in Calories-tiny units of energy so small that a single apple provides tens of thousands of them. • Ex. An apple contains ~100 Kcal or 100 x 1000 calories = 100,000 calories

22. Energy from Foods • The amount of energy a food provides depends directly on its mass and chemical composition. • For example, high fat foods provide twice as much energy per weight then low fat foods do.

23. Energy from Foods • Most foods we eat contain all three energy-yielding nutrients, as well as water, vitamins, minerals, and other substances. • It is inaccurate to describe a food as it’s predominate nutrient, i.e. meat as protein, or bread as carbohydrate because they contain many nutrients.

24. "China Airlines in-flight meal" by Prayitno is licensed under CC BY 4.0 "Donuts" by Amy is licensed under CC BY 4.0 Lower energy density meal The better choice: 450-gram breakfast of an egg, toast, fruit, cereal and coffee delivers 500 kcal, for an energy density of 1.1 More nutrients, per energy(500 kcal/450 g = 1.1 kcal/g) Higher energy density meal Not so good: 144-gram breakfast of two glazed donuts delivers 500 kcal, for an energy density of 3.5 Less nutrients per energy.(500 kcal/144 g = 3.5 kcal/g)

25. Energy in the Body • We use all of the energy-yielding nutrients to fuel all of our activities. • When our body uses Carbohydrate, lipid, or protein for energy, we extract energy from the chemical bonds between the nutrient’s atoms as they separate from each other. • When the bonds break, they release energy. Some energy is lost as heat, and some is used to do work in the body such as send electrical impulses though nerve tissue, synthesizing body compounds and pumping the heart.

26. Energy in the Body • If we consume more energy than we need to power current activities, the body store some nutrients (as body fat and glycogen), to be used for reserve fuel when incoming energy supplies become depleted. • If more energy is consumed than is used by the body (Positive energy balance) the result is nutrient storage and weight gain. Too much energy stored can lead to obesity.

27. Energy in the Body • If we consume less energy than we expend, it leads to a decreased body weight. • When consumed in excess of energy needs even alternative energy such as alcohol, can be converted to body fat and stored. The term “Beer Belly” is a real thing, even beer can convert to fat and be stored in the body.

28. What Other Roles Do Energy-Yielding Nutrients Have In The Body? • Besides supplying energy for the body, carbohydrate, protein, and fat also makeup the raw materials for building body cells, tissues, repair, growth and regulating body functions.

29. Vitamins • Vitamins, are also organic (they contain carbon too), but they do not provide energy. Instead, they function to help extract energy from carbohydrate, lipid, and protein. • There are several vitamins, each has special function in the body. For example, vitamin A functions to help the eyes convert light to visual nerve impulses. Vitamin K functions in the blood clotting process.

30. The Vitamins • Vitamins are complex, delicate molecules, they are easily damaged and rendered useless by heat, light, and chemical agents. • Our body processes vitamins with care. We need to prepare our foods, cook, and store food properly to help preserve vitamins before they enter the body.

31. The Minerals • In our body, many minerals are assembled in orderly fashion, for example the structures such as bone and teeth. Minerals are found in the fluids of our body and have a role influencing body fluid properties too. Minerals do not contain any energy the human body can use.

32. The Minerals • Many minerals are known to be essential in human nutrition, our body needs them to function. Some are still being studied to determine if they have any roles positive or negative in the human body. • There are minerals that are environmental contaminants that can disrupt human body functions if ingested. Lead, for example, can negatively effect the nervous system and bone functions.

33. The Minerals • Minerals are inorganic (they don’t contain carbon), they usually don’t need special handling, storage or care. • Minerals can, however, be bound by substances that can block the body’s ability to properly absorb them. Minerals can somtimes be lost during food processing and cooking.

34. Water • Water provides the medium where nearly all the body’s internal processes are conducted. It participates in most all chemical reactions and is used for transporting vital substances to cells and waste products away from cells and the body.

35. Nutrition Research • The science of nutrition studies the nutrients in food and the body’s handling of those nutrients. • Nutrition research uses different types of studies to answer questions about nutrition. • Scientific protocol is used in conducting research.

36. Nutrition is based on scientific research • Like other healthcare disciplines nutrition research is based on testing a hypothesis and developing theories. • Types of studies used include: • Epidemiological studies • Laboratory studies • Clinical trials.

37. Scientific Method "The Scientific Method.jpg" is licensed under CC BY 4.0

38. Nutritional Regulations. Who Regulates Nutrition? • Formulating the proper amounts of energy and nutrients that best support human health is daunting job. • Over may years, nutrition researchers have published energy and nutrient standards. This information is periodically updated as new information is made available through new research.

39. U.S. Department of Health and Human Service roles in Nutrition • https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/ • Many governmental departments have a role in regulating sound nutritional standards in the United States.

40. Nutrition Assessment • What effects happen to a person if they do not get enough of a nutrient or energy or consume more than they need? • Malnutrition: any condition caused by an excess or deficient energy or nutrients. • A person can have: adeficiency of energy or nutrients or an excess energy or nutrients.

41. Signs of Malnutrition • Being very frail underweight or obese and overweight. • Having a loss of muscle mass • Bleeding gums, loose teeth, sores on the skin • Muscle spasms • Hair loss • Problems with vision • Blood pressure abnormalities and rapid heart rate • Hot flashes, dizziness, weakness, lethargy

42. Malnutrition Signs • Sometimes symptoms can be overlooked. They can also resemble the symptoms of other dysfunctions like: diarrhea, skin rashes, pain. • By using proven nutritional assessment techniques, malnutrition issues can be diagnosed and treated.

43. Nutritional Assessment, A Game of Nutritional Clue • To prepare a nutritional assessment the assessor, usually a profeesionally trained registered dietitian or a clinical nutritionist who diagnoses problems using: • Historical information (patient history) • Anthropometric data (measurements) • Physical exams • Laboratory tests (blood work, special tests)

44. Nutritional Assessment • In most cases issues that arise with malnutrition will be diagnosed inside the body before they will cause outward signs and symptoms. Especially in cases of nutritional deficiencies.

45. Deficiency Types: • Primary deficiency: a nutrient deficiency caused by inadequate dietary intake of a nutrient. (person not eating enough) • Secondary deficiency: a nutrient deficiency caused by something other than an not eating enough. Examples: a disease that reduces nutrient absorption, increases nutrient use, increases it’s excretion, or damages the nutrient. (e.g. cancer causing weight loss).

46. Nutritional Assessment • Sometimes clinical symptoms can be overt (easy to see) or covert (hidden). • Sub-clinical deficiency: a deficiency in the very early stages, before the outward signs have appeared yet. Laboratory tests can help diagnose.

47. Dietary Intake and Human Health • What a person consumes always plays an important role in health. • Early on, nutrition research was based on identifying the nutrients that would prevent deficiency diseases. • Currently, nutritional research is focused on diseases associated with energy and nutrient excesses to combat obesity.