“Optimum nutrition is needed for optimum health”
Nutrition can be described as the science of consuming and utilizing foods in a natural medicinal way so as to provide the human body with optimum health by taking care of the body’s dietary needs. Nutritional science studies how the human body catabolizes and anabolizes certain groups of foods to see how they affect the repair and creation of new and old cells. Good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle, combined with regular physical activity, are essential to good health and wellbeing. Poor diet and lifestyle choices can lead to an increased susceptibility to disease, reduced immunity and impaired physical and mental development (World Health Organization 2009).
The role nutrition
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Both of these practices require implementation of a healthy and varied diet in order to achieve beneficial therapeutic outcomes (Community Services and Health Industry Skills Council 2013).
The relevance of considering dietary changes and nutritional supplementation in addressing nutritional status
Dietary changes and nutritional supplementation are well known as highly useful tools when attempting to correct a nutritional deficiency. Folic acid’s benefit in pregnancy is a well-documented example of this. Folate, also known as vitamin B9, is a micronutrient which can be found in foods such as green leafy vegetables, grains, cereals and meat. Folate has an important role in the synthesis of DNA and the division of cells. Significant folate deficiency can lead to several different birth defects including neural tube defects (NTD’s), spinal bifida and anencephaly (birth without part of the brain) as the neural tube is the embryonic precursor to the brain and spinal column. Folic acid, a synthetic form of folate, is used in multivitamin supplements because it is better absorbed by the body (Science Based Medicine 2013).
Recently, a meta-analysis was conducted on women who were planning to marry in an area of China which exhibited a high prevalence of NTD’s. They were asked to take 400mg of folic
Nutrition is defined “as the science that links foods to health and disease. “ Nutrition is also called nourishment that provides food for support of life. Nutrition involves the process of humans ingesting, digesting, absorbing, and excreting food substances.Food provides energy in the form of calories needed to maintain all body cells. Nutrients are the substances obtained from food that are an important factor to promote growth & maintain a healthy body through an individuals’ life.
14. Dietary supplements do not require government approval before entering the market, and manufacturers alone decide whether their products are safe and effective.
What nutrients are and how they affect our body, malnutrition, deficiency etc. The guidelines which determine nutritional health including dietary reference values (DRV), what a balanced diet is and how to maintain this, what BMI is and how to calculate it, the eat well plate, I will explain possible influences on dietary intake, assess how these influences may affect the nutritional health of individuals and I will also make realistic recommendations for minimising the impact of negative influences on individuals in a specific health and social care setting.
Another study was conducted in Chile by Cortes et al, and this study’s aim was similar to De Wals et al’s aim which was whether there is an impact of folic acid fortification on NTDs’ prevalence or not (Cortes et al., 2012). The researchers held an observation program in a specific hospital to detect the rate of occurrence of NTDs in stillbirths and livebirths (Cortes et al., 2012). The researchers showed that total NTDs’ prevalence decreased from prefortification period to postfortification period, and the reduction of spina bifida was about 52% in postfortification (Cortes et al., 2012). Therefore, this study is one of the studies that
Food is defined as any nutritional substance that humans or animals eat or drink in order to maintain healthy life and growth. There are many different types of food and drink that both animals and humans consume. The food we eat determines the lifestyle we have.
A person’s diet is the food they regularly consume, for example a high fibre diet contains a lot of fruit and vegetables. A nutrient is anything that nourishes a human or animal for example iron is a nutrient if someone is a vegetarian they don’t get a lot of iron so they have to take iron supplement tablets. A meal is a fairly large portion of food that is served and eaten for example a roast dinner which contains vegetables, meat and potatoes. A snack is a small amount of food eaten in between meals for example a sandwich. Malnutrition is caused by people having to many or too little nutrients, this can cause poor wound healing, fatigue and organ failure. Over nutrition is where you take in too many nutrients, this affects energy
Deficiency of the micronutrient folate continues to significantly affect the health of pregnant women and their children, globally. A great cause of concern with folate deficiency is the occurrence of Neural Tube Defects (NTDs) in new-born babies due to abnormal early foetal development. According to Greene et al. (2016), NTDs are abnormalities to the formation of the brain, spinal cord or related structures from early foetal development. The rate of the prevalence of NTDs varies between countries from 0.3 to 199.4 cases per 10,000 births. In Australia specifically, approximately 19.5 cases of NTDs occurred per 10,000 cases between 2009 and 2010 (Zaganjoy et al.,
Nutrition is the science of our intake and utilization of food. Proper nutrition can help prevent or lessen the instances of disease. Improper nutrition can lead to a weakened immune system and even disease. In fact, A poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle are known to be risk factors for life-threatening chronic diseases such as cardiovascular (heart) disease, hypertension, diabetes,
Eating a balanced diet is an important nutritional aspect that should in the ‘Top 9 Australian Wellness Guidelines for Adults’. The ratios specified maximise energy levels and cardiovascular health.
Nutrition- Nutrition is a course which mainly puts emphasizes on basic nutritional concepts and principles, their application to personal health and relationship between food and its use by the human body for regulation, energy, structure, and good health. Discussion of problems in nutrition during different stages of the life cycle and specific chronic diseases will be addressed.
We need to supplement minimum 400 microgram folic acid before and during pregnancy to prevent major birth defects of the baby’s brain and spine called neural tube defects. Dietary sources are fortified cereals, leafy green vegetables, citrus fruits, dried
The food we consume every day has a significant impact on our health. Changes in your diet can help prevent or control many health problems such as obesity, diabetes and certain risk factors for cancer and heart disease (Nutrition Dietetics 2016). It is crucial for a Nutritionist to understand the health concerns of their clients, as well as their possible food intolerances and even their diets based on religious practice. A Nutritionist should
To increase her vitamin C and vitamin D intake, she can also consume the suggested food listed for minerals. Additionally, folate is important in the prenatal stages to prevent prenatal deficiencies such as spinal bifida and anencephaly, which are common congenital malformations in the United States (Grodner et al., 2016). Bibbins-Domingo et al. (2017) explains that most women do not receive the recommended daily intake of folate from diet alone. Grodner et al.
Although Folate has been used for 40 years to successfully reduce the risk of neural tube defects and related issues, there are still lingering concerns about its safety such as the masking effect it may have on populations at risk for or already deficient in vitamin B12. The recommended amount of Folate intake based on the RDAs is set at around 400mcg DFE – 600mcg DFE depending on gender and pregnancy status.1 This very level was set in order to achieve a status that prevents deficiency in the general population and neural tube defects in infants, while remaining low enough to avoid the potential masking effect Folate can have upon B12. Folate amounts higher than 5000mcg certainly can alleviate megaloblastic anemia when the presumed cause of anemia is a Folate deficiency.1 However, if Folate is not the underlying deficiency, these high levels can also attract medical attention away from a B12 deficiency, allowing neurological damage to become permanent. These risks extend further into the realm of neurological function due to the role of Folate and B12 as cofactors in the CNS, where high levels of Folate and low levels of B12 could result in reduced Methionine and elevated Homocysteine concentrations. Methionine plays a vital role in numerous methylation reactions throughout the body that are essential to the
Nutrition has multiple effects on education and the level of education. Cognitive development, such as thinking and learning abilities, has been caught up between nutrition, genetic genes pasted down from generation to generation, along with the environment that surrounds that the children. These influences have grown to dull the cognitive growth of children. Nutrition has grown in detail for the children physical and mental development as they start growing in the infant and toddler years. Many studies have studied deeply on the connection between nutrition, children's mental and physical health. Behavior also is implicated by the quality and quantity of nutrients the child receives. There have been connections to tie the mother's good health and having proper nutrition throughout the pregnancy, and then tying it her child’s metal cognitive and brain function. Still taking records from after birth all the way up to two years of age. The children's cognitive develops in the womb way before birth, when the child is born the brain is already 25% grown. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says that “concluded that breastfed infants tested 5.2 IQ points higher on average than formula-fed infants.” Breakfast is the most vital meal particularly for toddlers. Any nutritional disorder, particularly during the preliminary stages of life, leads to serious mental and cognitive issues. Malnutrition and obesity, both, can take serious toll on