Chapter 1. Introduction to Nutrition
Chapter Review
IMPORTANT: Key Takeaways
- Nutrition is the science of food. It covers processes related to food consumption, digestion, elimination, and metabolism of nutrients found in foods, and how these nutrients affect our bodies and impact our health.
- Nutrition plays a role in one’s physical, spiritual, and emotional health. A healthy diet can prevent some diseases and reduce the risk of others such as rickets, pellagra, and anemia.
- The six classes of nutrients required for the body to function include carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, water, vitamins, and minerals.
- Nutrients needed in large amounts (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and water) are called macronutrients and they influence our body’s capacity to produce energy and perform work.
- Unlike carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins, water does not provide energy but is needed in large quantities to perform many bodily processes such as fluid balance, nutrient transport, nerve impulses, etc.
- Nutrients needed in lesser amounts are called micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) but are still essential for carrying out bodily functions.
- Nutrients needed in large amounts (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and water) are called macronutrients and they influence our body’s capacity to produce energy and perform work.
- Dietary reference intakes (DRIs) are the recommendation levels for specific nutrients and consist of a number of different types of recommendations (EAR, RDA, AI, and UL). The purpose of these recommendations is to prevent and reduce the risk of developing chronic disease and promote optimal health.
- Sources deemed trustworthy and rooted in scientific fact use an organized process of inquiry called the scientific method. Nutritional scientists use the scientific method and adopt an evidence-based approach to explore the health effects of food and nutrients and establish nutritional guidelines.
- Peer-reviewed articles are thoroughly examined by a panel of experts in that field and are considered reliable and trustworthy sources of information. These articles provide diverse perspectives and are inclusive of the results of many studies on a particular subject or topic.
- Articles can be reviews, which are summaries of several studies on a particular topic, or research studies, which are original studies that aim to answer one research question with an experiment.
- Once you have a collection of the research articles relevant to your topic, it may be helpful to create a literature review matrix which typically highlights the important information from each study and typically includes: the title, the authors, the year of publication, the purpose of the study, the target population, the methods, sampling strategy, and the results. This literature matrix can be used as a guide for the writing process, in which you present the findings of all the studies.
- Any time you use information from an article, you must give credit to the authors by mentioning their last name and the year of publication, which is a process called citing.
Practice Questions
- What are the three basic functions of nutrients?
- Define nutrients and list the six classes of nutrients required for the body to maintain normal function and overall health.
- What is the difference between organic and inorganic nutrients? Give two examples of each.
- Which macronutrient provides the most energy per gram?
- What are the three main types of lipids and what are the primary functions of lipids?
- Why are proteins considered essential for the body beyond energy production?
- Which vitamin plays an important role in vision, reproduction, and immune system function?
- Which vitamin deficiency can lead to pellagra? What are the common signs and symptoms of this disease?
- Carlos, a 28-year-old individual, has determined that they need to consume 2500 kcal per day. Based on this requirement, calculate the AMDR for both kcal and grams for carbohydrates, fats, and protein.
- Aki is a 42-year-old female who weighs 60 kg and is 1.62 m tall. Each morning, Aki enjoys biking for at least 60 minutes with her best friend. Based on this information, what is Aki’s EER?
- What does the evidence-based approach to nutrition include?
- What are the similarities and differences between Indigenous ways of knowing and Western science?
- What is the difference between epidemiological studies and intervention clinical trials?
- Why are randomized clinical trials considered the gold standard of research?
- Why is it important to consider who provided the funding when evaluating scientific conclusions?
- Describe two ways in which you can evaluate the validity of nutritional news sources.
- What are some common characteristics of fad diets that make them problematic?
- What are some indicators that an article is peer-reviewed?
- Why is it important to cite the articles you reference in your work?
- Design a study to investigate the effects of blueberry supplementation on cognitive performance among college students. HINT: Consider the gold standard for scientific studies.
