Nutrition and Health Overview

Food Choices and Human Health

• Nutrition is the study of how food nourishes the body
• Food is any substance that the body can consume and assimilate, a source of nutrients
• Diet is the usual food and beverages a person consumes
• A well-balanced diet prevents malnutrition
• Malnutrition includes nutrient deficiencies, imbalances, and excesses

A Lifetime of Nourishment

• Foods have a cumulative effect on the body, the effects become obvious with age
• Diet has a major impact on long-term health outcomes
• Smoking and other tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption have a stronger influence on long-term health than dietary choices.

Leading Causes of Death in Canada (2018)

• Malignant Neoplasms (Cancer): 79,536
• Diseases of the Heart: 53,134
• Cerebrovascular Diseases (stroke): 13,480
• Accidents (unintentional injuries): 13,290
• Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases: 12,998
• Influenza and Pneumonia: 8,511
• Diabetes Mellitus: 6,794
• Total Deaths (all causes): 187,743 (Note: These figures represent leading causes of deaths in Canada in 2018, and the data is adapted from Statistics Canada)

Nutrition and Disease

• Not all diseases are influenced equally by diet. Some are mainly genetic, like sickle-cell anemia
• Some diseases may be inherited, but diet can influence them, such as some forms of diabetes
• Some diseases are purely dietary, such as vitamin and mineral deficiencies

Genetics and Individuality

• Genome is the full set of genetic material in a cell's chromosomes
• DNA is the molecule that encodes genetic information.

Nutritional Genomics

• Nutritional genomics is the study of how nutrients affect gene activity and how genes affect nutrient activity
• It holds great promise for advancements in nutrition science
• Current state of the science and application are unclear
• A Canadian academic start-up example is Nutrigenomix

Other Lifestyle Choices

• Besides diet, other factors influencing health include:
  • Tobacco use
  • Alcohol use
  • Substance abuse
  • Physical activity
  • Sleep
  • Stress
  • Conditions at home and work

The Human Body and Its Food

• Energy is the capacity to do work.
• The energy that fuels the human body originates indirectly from the sun through plants
• Food energy is measured in calories or kilojoules

Materials of Food and the Human Body

• Foods, and the human body are built of the same materials (water, vitamins, minerals, fat, protein & carbohydrates)
• Nutrients are components of food vital for bodily functions, including energy provision, building materials, maintenance & support of growth.

The Nutrients in Food

• Six categories of nutrients are: water, carbohydrates, fat, protein, vitamins, and minerals
• Essential nutrients can't be made by the body fast enough, or at all, and must be obtained from food.
• Carbohydrates, fat, and protein are energy-yielding nutrients

Calories

• Kilocalorie (kcal or Calorie) is a unit of energy
• Used to measure the energy in food
• Equivalent to the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1°C
• Joules (J) or kilojoules (kJ) are also units of energy
• 1 kcal = 4.18 kJ

Explore the critical relationship between food choices and human health. This quiz covers the fundamentals of nutrition, the importance of a balanced diet, and the long-term health effects of dietary habits. Additionally, you'll learn about the leading causes of death in Canada related to nutrition and lifestyle choices.