Contraception Methods and Nutrition Basics

Contraception - Surgical Methods

• Vasectomy: A simple procedure making a man unable to father children.
• Vasectomy is nearly 100% effective (99.85%).
• Takes about 15 minutes in a urologist's office.
• Usually covered by health insurance.

Contraception - Surgical Methods (Female)

• Tubal Ligation: A surgical procedure to prevent pregnancy.
• Commonly called "getting your tubes tied."
• Also referred to as female sterilization.
• Tubal refers to the fallopian tubes.
• Each month, an egg is released from an ovary and travels through the fallopian tube to the uterus.

Contraceptive Implant

• Placed under the skin of the upper arm.
• Releases a low, steady dose of a pregestational hormone to thicken cervical mucus and thin the uterine lining (endometrium).

Contraception - Other Methods

• Abstinence: Voluntary prevention from indulging in bodily activities that provide pleasure.

Nutrition - Introduction

• Nutrition is the process of providing or obtaining food necessary for health, survival, and growth of an organism.
• An organism takes in, digests, and uses substances from food sources.
• Nutrients are substances needed for organism growth and maintenance.
• Two types of organisms are based on their mode of nutrition.

Nutrition - Autotrophic

• Autotrophs: Organisms that obtain energy from sunlight or chemicals to create their own food sources.
• Examples include plants and certain bacteria.

Nutrition - Photoautotrophic

• Organisms directly use energy from the sun and inorganic substances (like carbon dioxide and water) to produce organic food.
• Plants, some bacteria, and protists are examples of photoautotrophs.

Nutrition - Chemoautotrophic

• Organisms use chemicals to create simpler organic substances important for survival.
• Bacteria and archaea in extreme environments are main examples. (e.g. volcanoes, deep-sea vents).
• Inorganic substances like hydrogen sulfide, sulfur, and ammonia are used for synthesis.

Nutrition - Heterotrophic

• Organisms that cannot create their food and depend on other organisms for energy.
• Animals and fungi are examples of heterotrophs.

Holozoic Nutrition (Types)

• Herbivores: Organisms that consume only plants (e.g., cow, goat, deer).
• Carnivores: Organisms that consume only animals (e.g., lions, tigers, sharks).
• Omnivores: Organisms that consume both plants and animals (e.g., humans, bears, pigs).

Saprophytic/Saprotrophic Nutrition

• Organisms feed on dead and decaying organic matter.
• Digest the dead matter, absorbs nutrients to sustain it.
• Examples include certain fungi and bacteria.

Parasitic Nutrition

• Organisms feed on a living host as a source of nutrition.
• Types:
  • Ectoparasites: Live on the exterior of the host (e.g., lice, ticks).
  • Endoparasites: Live inside the host (e.g., tapeworms, roundworms).

Plant Nutrition Requirements

• Water
• Carbon dioxide

Animal Nutrition - Energy Units

• Calorie: A unit of energy.
• The higher the number of calories, the greater energy the food contains. (e.g. Raising 1 kg of water by 10 degrees Celsius).

Carbohydrates

• Serve as the main source of energy for body cells
• Commonly produced from grains, cereals, breads, fruits, and vegetables.
• An average of 4 calories per gram.

Fats

• Important for building cell membranes, steroid hormones, and other cellular structures.
• Used for nervous tissue insulation.
• Certain fat-soluble vitamins.
• Found in oils, margarine, processed foods, meats, etc.
• More energy per gram than carbohydrates or proteins.

Essential Nutrients

• Substances animals need from food that cannot be made by their bodies.
• Macronutrients: Needed in large amounts (Example: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, etc).
• Micronutrients: Needed in small amounts (Example: chlorine, iron, boron, manganese, zinc, cobalt, molybdenum.)

Essential Nutrients (Amino Acids)

• Needed for protein & enzyme synthesis.
• There are 20 amino acids.
• 8 are crucial for humans due to the inability of synthesizing them:
  • Lysine
  • Tryptophan
  • Threonine
  • Methionine
  • Phenylalanine
  • Leucine
  • Isoleucine
  • Valine

Essential Nutrients (Fatty Acids)

• Essential for creating special membrane lipids.
• Linoleic acid is an example.

Essential Nutrients (Vitamins)

• Organic molecules required for normal body metabolism.
• Examples: Vitamins A, D, E, K, and water-soluble B vitamins (B1, B2, B3, etc.),vitamin C

Stages of Food Processing

• Ingestion: The act of eating food, including mechanically breaking food into smaller pieces.
• Digestion: The mechanical and enzymatic breakdown of food. The process of changing food into substances the body can absorb.
• Absorption: The passage of digested nutrients and fluids across the wall of the intestines into the bloodstream and body fluids.
• Elimination: Removing undigested and unabsorbed matter from the body.

Digestive System Organs

• Oral cavity: Chewing, mixing food with saliva.
• Pharynx: Passageway for food and air, controls food passage into esophagus.
• Esophagus: Transports food from the pharynx to the stomach.
• Stomach: Mixes, stores, and breaks down food via gastric juices.
• Small intestine: Main site of digestion and nutrient absorption. (Duodenum, Jejunum, Ileum).
• Accessory organs: Pancreas, liver, gallbladder, and large intestine to aid the process.
• Large intestine (Colon): Absorbing water and concentrating undigested matter (reabsorbing water).
• Rectum: Last segment of the large intestine, compacts and stores fecal matter.
• Anus: The final opening in the digestive tract.