CHS Lecture 1

214

Introduction to the
Science of Nutrition and
Related Definitions
Objectives
 Introduction
 Definitions
 Energy from food
 Functions of food nutrients
 Composition of human body
 Nutrition assessment of individual
 Sign of good nutrition
 The relationship of nutrition with other
sciences
 Nutrient intake limits
Introduction
 Most of the organized studies of nutrition have
been confined to the 20th century.
 Although there was evidence of long-standing
curiosity about nutrition.
 Hippocrates, the father of medicine(400 BC)
considered food as one universal nutrient.
 Antonie Lauret Lavoisier(18th century, a French
chemist) is known as father of nutrition.
 In Islam there are many verses of the Quran
and Hadeeths in food and nutrition.
 Some of these fact has just been proved by the
modern science and some not.
 Nutrition has played a significant role
in our life, even from before our birth.

 Many people are concerned only with

food that relives their hunger or
satisfies their appetite .

 But in many times, these foods don't

supply their bodies with all the
component of good nutrition.
Definitions
 Food:
Foods are products derived from plants
or animals .
that can be taken into the body to yield
energy and nutrients for maintenance of
life ,for growth and repair tissues.
Food is that nourishes the body.
Food is a prerequisite of nutrition.
 Diet
Diet is the foods and beverages a person
eats and drinks.
Food composition
Nutrients:

Chemical substances obtained from foods used in

the body to provide energy, structure materials,
regulating agents to support growth,
maintenance, repair of body's tissues and may
also reduce the risks of some diseases.
Nutrients divided into two
categories:
 Macronutrients
 Are the nutrients which the body needed in large
amount such as carbohydrate, protein and
fats.
 Carbohydrates, protein and fats are the main
source of energy for human body.
 Are the energy yielding nutrients.
 Micronutrients
Are nutrients needed in lesser amounts such
as: Vitamins & minerals.
 Chemical composition of the
nutrients

Organic nutrients: substance that contain carbon

atom.
Inorganic: substances that do not contain carbon
 Essential nutrients:
Are nutrients a person must obtain from
food because the body cannot make them
for itself insufficient quantity to meet
physiological needs. Also called
indispensable nutrients.
 Nutrition:
• Nutrition is the science of foods, nutrients
and other substances they contain their
actions within the body (including
ingestion, digestion, absorption, transport,
metabolism and excretion).
• A broader definition includes the social,
economic, cultural, and psychological
implications of food and eating.
 Nutritional
requirements

The amounts of nutrient which are needed for

covering the human needs to be healthy
depend on sex, age and few other factors.
 Nutritional status
An individual condition of health in
relation to digestion and absorption of
nutrients.

Nutritional care:
Application of the science of nutrition in
nourishing the body regardless of health
problems or potential problems.
Adequate diet: is a diet
providing all the needed nutrients in the
right total amounts.
Junk food:
Refers to foods that are harmful.
 Calories
• The energy released from carbohydrates,
proteins and fats can be measured in calories.
• A calorie is the amount of heat necessary to
raise temperature of 1 gm of water by 1 C.
• 1000-calorie metric units are known as
kilocalories (kcal).

Empty-kcalorie foods
a popular term used to denote foods contribute
energy (from sugars, fat or both)
but lack in protein, vitamins and minerals
Example:(potato chips and candies).
 Dietetics
the health profession responsible for the
application of nutrition science to promote
human health and treat disease

Metabolism
The sum of all chemical reactions that take
place in the body which it maintains itself
produces energy for its functioning.
  Nutrition science
Nutrition science:
1-The study of nutrients and other substances in foods
and the body's handling of them.
2-Its foundation depends on several other sciences
including biology, biochemistry, and physiology.
3- Comprises the body of knowledge governing the food
requirement growth, activity, reproduction and
lactation.
 Nutritional genomics:
the science of how nutrients affect the
activities of genes and how genes affect
the interactions between diet and
disease.
 Malnutrition:
Malnutrition has two types:
 Undernutrition: deficient energy or nutrients.

•Symptoms of under nutrition (extremely thin, losing

muscle tissues, prone to infection and disease, skin
rashes, hair loss, bleeding gum and night blindness).

 Overnutrition: excess energy or nutrient.

•Symptoms of overnutrition (heart disease, diabetes,

yellow skin, rapid heart rate and low blood
pressure).
 Nitrogen balance
 The proteins in the body undergo
constant turnover (degraded to amino
acids and resynthesized).

 Nitrogen balance is the difference

between the amount of nitrogen taken
into the body each day and the amount
of nitrogen in compounds lost.
 if: 1- More nitrogen is ingested than
excreted, a person is said to be in positive
nitrogen balance (growing individual such
as children and pregnant).
 2- Less nitrogen is ingested than is excreted
(negative nitrogen balance, person eating
either too little protein or protein is deficient
in one or more of the essential amino acids,
new protein cannot be synthesized and the
unused amino acids will be degraded, body
function will be impaired by the net loss of
critical proteins.
 3- In contrast, healthy adults are in nitrogen
balance and the amount of nitrogen
consumed in the diet equals its loss in urine.
 Nutritive value

The amounts of nutrient which the food

consist of, determined by using:
 Food analysis.
 Food analysis tables.
Energy from food
 The amount of energy a food provide depends
on how much CHO, fat, and protein contains.
 When completely broken down in the body,

1 gm CHO 4 kcal of energy

1 gm protein 4 kcal of energy
1 gm of fat  9 kcal of energy
therefore fat has the greater energy density
than either CHO or protein.
 Alcohol is not considered a nutrient because it
interferes with health but it yields energy
1 gm of alcohol 7 kcal of energy
Functions of food
nutrients

1-Provide energy sources

2-Build tissues
3-Regulate metabolic process
1-Provide energy sources
 The major carbohydrates in the human diet
are starch, sucrose, fructose and glucose.
 Dietary carbohydrate (starches and sugars)
provided the body's primary source of fuel
for energy.

 Oxidation of carbohydrates to CO2 and

H2O in the body produces approximately 4
kcal/g.

 They also maintain the back-up store of

quick energy as glycogen (animal starch).
 Fats are lipids composed of triacylglycerols.

A triacylglycerol molecule contains three fatty

acids esterified to one glycerol molecule.

 Dietaryfats, from both animal and plant

sources, provided the body's secondary or storage
form of energy.

 It is a more concentrated, yielding 9 kcal for

each gram consumed.

 In a well-balanced diet, protein provided about

15 % of the total kcalories.

 Each gram of protein can yield 4 kcal.

How to calculate the energy available
from 1 slice of bread with 1
tablespoon of peanut butter on it-
It contains
16 grams carbohydrate,
7 grams protein and
9 grams fat?
2-Build tissues
• Proteins are composed of amino acids that are joined
to form linear chains.
• The digestive process breaks down proteins to their
constituent to amino acids, which enter the blood.
• The primary function of protein is tissue building
and repairing body tissues.
• Dietary protein provides amino acids, amino acids
are the building unit necessary for construction and
repairing body tissues.
• Muscle protein is essential for body movement.
• Other proteins serve as enzymes.
• Other nutrients such as minerals and vitamins used
in tissue building and maintaining tissue.
• Minerals are also found in the fluids of the body
and influence their properties.

• There are 13 different vitamins, one vitamin

enables the eyes to see in dim light,
protect the lungs from air pollution
make the sex hormones,
stop the bleeding,
helps repair the skin,
replace old blood cells and lining of the digestive
tract.
 3-Regulate metabolic process
• Many vitamins and minerals function as
coenzymes factors in cell metabolism.
• Other nutrients (water and fibers),
water provides the environment in which nearly
all the body's activities.
Also, in many metabolic reactions and supplies
the medium for transporting vital materials to
cells and waste products away from them.
• Dietary fibers help regulate the passage of food
material through the gastrointestinal tract and
influences absorption of various nutrients.
Composition of human body

6% 2%

14%
water (61%)
Protein (17%)
Fats(13.8)
Minerals(6.1%)
17% 61% Carbohydrates(1.5)
Nutrition assessment of
individual

Evaluation of person's nutrition

1- Historical information (socioeconomic status,
drug use, diet and person's family history).
2-A=Anthropometric data (height and weight).
3- B= biochemical data (Laboratory tests).
4-C=clinical assessment(Physical examinations)
5-D=Dietary assessment
Sign of good nutrition
1. Well-developed body.
2. Ideal weight.
3. Good muscle development.
4. The skin is smooth and clear
5. The hair glossy and the eyes clear and
bright.
6. Appetite, digestion and elimination are
normal.
7. Have good resistance to infection.
The relationship of nutrition
with other sciences
There are three main areas of
overlapping between nutrition and
medicine:
1-dietary control of disease.
2-the relationship between diet as a
possible causative factor in disease ex:
cancer, heart diseases etc.
3-the toxicology of natural and processed
foods.
Nutrient intake limits
Accurate View

Naive View Danger of

toxicity
marginal

Safety Safety

RDA
RDA Safety

marginal
Danger
Danger of
deficiency
Thank you for
listening 