1. Food Choices and Human Health
Chapter 1

2. Learning Objectives
Discuss how daily food choices can help or harm the body’s health over time.
Describe the national Healthy People objective for the nation, and identify some nutrition-related objectives.
Define the term nutrient and be able to list the six major nutrients.

3. Learning Objectives
Summarize the five characteristics of a healthy diet and describe cultural or other influences on human food choices.
Describe the major types of research studies and give reasons why national nutrition research is important for the health of the population.
List the major steps in behavior change and devise a plan for making successful long-term changes in the diet.

4. Learning Objectives
Define nutrient density and explain the advantages of choosing nutrient-dense foods.
Identify misleading nutrition information in infomercials, advertorials, and other sources in the popular media.

5. Introduction Nutrition Science Studying nutrition
Why care about nutrition?
What are the nutrients in food?
What constitutes a nutritious diet?
How do we know what we know about nutrition?
How do people go about making changes?

6. A Lifetime of Nourishment
Chosen foods have a cumulative effect
Good health and poor health
Your body continuously renews itself
Best foods
Support your body’s growth & maintenance
Malnutrition
Deficiencies, imbalances, and excesses

7. The Diet and Health Connection
Influential lifestyle habits
Tobacco use, alcohol use, nutritional choices
Chronic diseases
Connection with poor diet

8. Genetics and Individuality
Genetics and nutrition affect diseases to varying degrees
Human genome
DNA
Genes

9. Other Lifestyle Choices
Tobacco & alcohol use
Substance abuse
Physical activity
Sleep
Stress
Environmental factors

10. Healthy People: Nutrition Objectives for the Nation
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Nutrition and food-safety objectives
Progress toward HP 2010 objectives was mixed
Blood cholesterol levels
Fruit, vegetable, and whole grain intake
Physical activity
Chronic diseases

11. Healthy People 2020, Selected Objectives

12. Healthy People 2020, Selected Objectives

13. The Human Body and Its Food
Your body uses energy
Comes indirectly from the sun
Six kinds of nutrients
Four are organic
Contain carbon
Three provide energy

14. Elements in the Six Classes of Nutrients

15. Meet the Nutrients Human body & food Same materials
Different arrangements

16. Meet the Nutrients Energy-yielding nutrients Vitamins and minerals
Carbohydrates – 4 cal/g
Fats – 9 cal/g
Proteins – 4 cal/g
Vitamins and minerals
Provide no energy
Some are essential
Water
Scientists calculate needs

17. Can I Live on Just Supplements?
Elemental diets
Administered to severely ill people
“Real food” is superior to supplements
Nutrient interactions
Phytochemicals
Physical contributions
Psychological contributions

18. The Abundance of Foods to Choose From
Whole foods
Typical consumption
Fruits
Vegetables
Types of foods
Fast, processed, functional, staple

19. How, Exactly, Can I Recognize a Nutritious Diet?
Five characteristics
Adequacy
Balance
Calorie control
Moderation
Variety

20. Why People Choose Foods
Eating is an intentional act
Cultural and social meanings of food
Traditional cuisines and foodways
Cultural competence
Vegetarian or omnivore

21. Why People Choose Foods
Factors that drive food choice
Taste and price
Convenience
Other factors
Advertising, availability, emotional comfort
Habit, preference, social pressure
Values, weight, nutrition/health benefits

22. The Science of Nutrition
Field of knowledge composed of organized facts
Active, changing, and growing body of knowledge
The scientific approach
Systematic process to answer questions
Scientific challenge
Theories

23. The Scientific Method

24. Types of Studies Case study Epidemiological study Intervention study
Examples
Epidemiological study
Correlation
Intervention study
Blind studies
Laboratory study
Example

25. Examples of Research Design

26. Can I Trust the Media to Deliver Nutrition News?
Training of news media
Sensationalism
Be a trend watcher
Read news with an educated eye
Published in peer-reviewed journal
Description of research methods & subjects
Findings presented in context of previous research

27. National Nutrition Research
National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES)
What people eat
Recording of health status

28. Changing Behaviors Behavior change takes substantial effort
Process of change
Six stages
Taking stock and setting goals
Realistic goals
Small and achievable
Specific behaviors

29. The Stages of Behavior Change

30. Adequate Nutrients Without Excessive Calories
Evaluate nutrient density
Vegetables have high nutrient density
Time for food preparation
Options to save time
Foods to avoid
Combining foods into meals

31. A Way to Judge Which Foods Are Most Nutritious

32. Sorting the Imposters from the Real Nutrition Experts
Controversy 1

33. Information Sources Quackery Sources of nutrition information
Television and magazines
Nutrition-related products and services
Billions in customer dollars
Identifying quackery

34. Earmarks of Nutrition Quackery

35. Information Sources Characteristics of scientific research
Properly designed scientific experiments
Inadequacy of anecdotal evidence
Animal findings applied to humans
Careful with generalizations
Report of findings in scientific journals

36. Credible Source of Nutrition Information
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics National Center for Nutrition & Dietetics
National Council Against Health Fraud
Federal Trade Commission

37. Nutrition on the Net Judging website credibility
Who is responsible for the site?
Do the names and credentials of information providers appear?
Are links with other reliable information sites provided?
Is the site updated regularly?
Is the site selling a product or service?
Does the site charge a fee to gain access?

38. Who Are the True Nutrition Experts?
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Registered dietitian (RD)
Certified diabetes educator
Public health nutritionist
Dietetic technician
Dietetic technician registered

39. Detecting Fake Credentials
Accredited institution
Licensing