Basic Nutrition

• Factors affecting food choices include sensory influences, habit, comfort/discomfort foods, food advertising and promotion, eating away from home, food and diet trends, social factors, nutrition and health belief, economic, lifestyle, availability, cultural influences, religion, and the socio-ecological model
• Nutrients


  • Water
  • Carbohydrates
  • Lipids
  • Proteins
  • Vitamins
  • Minerals
• Nutrients


  Substances the body uses for the growth, maintenance, and repair of its tissues
• Non-nutrient compounds


  Fibers, phytochemicals, pigments, additives, alcohols, and others
• Nutrients that are essential

  The body cannot make them in sufficient amounts to meet the physiological needs
• Nutrients that are non-essential


  The body is able to make them in sufficient quantity
• Phytochemicals


  Non-nutrient compounds found in plants that have biological activity in the body
• Functional foods


  Foods that have a potentially beneficial effect on health when consumed as part of a varied diet on a regular basis at effective levels
• Organic nutrients


  Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and vitamins
• Inorganic nutrients


  Minerals and water
• Organic nutrients


  • Carbohydrates
  • Lipids
  • Proteins
  • Vitamins
• Inorganic nutrients


  • Minerals
  • Water
• Macronutrients


  Nutrients needed in large amounts daily that yield energy from food
• Micronutrients


  Nutrients needed in small amounts daily that do not yield energy
• Vitamins


  Facilitate energy release and assist in almost every bodily action
• Vitamins


  • Water-soluble vitamins
  • Fat-soluble vitamins
• Minerals


  Sixteen essential minerals that are indestructible
• Causes of mineral losses from foods include processing, storage, and cooking
• Kilocalorie


  A measure of heat energy, the amount of energy it would take to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1 degree Celsius
• 1 kilocalorie = 1,000 calories
• Calculating the energy available from foods

  1. Multiply the number of grams of carbohydrate, protein, and fat

  2. Carbohydrate yields 4 kcal per gram

  3. Protein yields 4 kcal per gram

  4. Fat yields 9 kcal per gram

  5. Calculate the percentage of kcalories each macronutrient contributes to the total
• Energy density is a measure of the energy a food provides relative to the weight of the food (kcalories per gram)
• Nutrition as a science


  Foundation in several other sciences including biology, biochemistry, physiology
• Tremendous growth in nutritional genomics due to sequencing of human genome
• Conducting research


  1. Use of scientific method

  2. Research studies with controls, randomization, sample size, placebos, double-blind experiments
• Variable


  May depend on another variable or be independent
• Hypothesis


  An unproven statement that tentatively explains the relationships between two or more variables
• Theory


  A tentative explanation that integrates many and diverse findings to further the understanding of a defined topic
• Validity


  Having the quality of being well-grounded or justifiable
• Replication


  Repeating an experiment and obtaining similar results
• Peer review


  A process in which a panel of scientists rigorously evaluates a research study to ensure that the scientific method was followed
• Articles that underwent peer review are considered to have validity
• Findings published are preliminary and not meaningful by themselves, they need to be replicated
• Correlation


  The simultaneous increase, decrease, or change in two variables (does not mean A causes B or vice versa)
• Association


  The simultaneous occurrence of two variables (does not mean A prevents B or vice versa)
• Control group


  A group of individuals similar in all possible respects to the experimental group except for the treatment, ideally receiving a placebo
• Experimental group


  A group of individuals similar in all possible respects to the control group except for the treatment, receiving the real treatment
• Single-blind experiment


  An experiment in which the subjects do not know which group they will belong to
• Double-blind experiment


  An experiment in which neither the subjects nor the researchers know which subjects are members of the experimental group and which are serving as control subjects, until after the experiment is over
• Placebo


  An inert, sham treatment used in controlled research studies to provide comfort and hope