NUTRITION
- The study of the nutrients in foods and of the body’s handling of them. This includes ingestion, digestion, absorption, transport, metabolism, interaction, storage, and excretion.
FOOD
- Material containing nutrients taken into the body for the maintenance of life and the growth and repair of tissues.
NUTRIENTS
- Substances obtained from food and used in the body to provide energy and structural materials and to regulate growth, maintenance, and repair of the body’s tissues.
SIX CLASSES OF NUTRIENTS
- CARBOHYDRATES
- FATS
- PROTEIN
- VITAMINS
- MINERALS
- WATER
ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS
- Those nutrients a person must obtain from food because the body cannot make them for itself in sufficient quantity to meet physiological needs
Examples:
ENERGY
- The capacity to do work
- In food: chemical energy
- Units: calorie
Kilocalorie – amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of 1 kg of
water 1oC
-1 kcal = 1000 calories
Joule – the amount of energy expended when 1 kg is moved 1 m by force
-work energy
Kilojoule – international unit of energy
- 1 g CHO = 4 kcal 1 g Protein = 4 kcal 1 g Fat = 9 kcal
A PERSON’S DIET SHOULD CONTAIN A RELATIVE BALANCE OF CHO, FAT, AND PROTEIN:
- CHO: 55 TO 60%
- FAT: NO MORE THAN 30% (<10% SATURATED)
- PROTEIN: 10 TO 15%
NUTRITION RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CANADIANS
RNI – RECOMMENDED NUTRIENT INTAKES:
- The Canadian diet should provide energy consistent with the maintenance of body weight within the recommended range.
- The Canadian diet should include essential nutrients in amounts recommended.
- The Canadian diet should include no more than 30% of energy as fat (33 g/1000 kcal or 39 g/5000 kJ) and no more than 10% as saturated fat (11g/1000 kcal or 13 g/5000 kJ)
- The Canadian diet should provide 55% of energy as carbohydrate (138 g/1000 kcal or 165 g/5000 kJ) from a variety of sources.
- The sodium content of the Canadian diet should be reduced.
- The Canadian diet should include no more than 5% of total energy as alcohol, or two drinks daily, whichever is less.
- The Canadian diet should contain no more caffeine than the equivalent of four regular cups of coffee per day.
- Community water supplies containing less than 1 mg/L should be fluoridated to that level.
