Week 3-4 Critical Thinking is Key

I. INSTRUCTIONS: Answer this post test individually. Encircle

the letter of your answer and include a brief rationale for your
response. Any form of cheating or copying of content from
classmates/others will automatically give you a failure mark.
Give your best answer, and think critically.
Good luck!

1. Which of the following statements by an adult patient indicate the need

for the nurse to do additional teaching about food fact labels? (5pts)
A. “All ingredients are listed in order of nutritional value.”
B. “If I select a larger or smaller portion size, I must consider that percentages
will differ.”
C. “Major nutrients are included on the label.”
D. “The amounts listed on the label are based on a 2,000-calorie diet.”
Brief rationale: On food labels, ingredients are listed in a descending order of
predominance based on their weight–that is, the heaviest ingredient or the ingredient
that weighs the most is listed first, whereas the one with the least weight is listed last.
2. A young mother asks the clinic nurse about DRIs and why they are important.
How should the nurse respond? (5pts)
A. “They are used by dietitians to calculate calories and plan diets to treat
diseases.”
B. “They are the standards by which healthcare providers determine obesity.”
C. “They provide guidance about recommended intake of nutrients, including
vitamins and minerals.”
D. “They are guidelines for how many calories your child should consume.”
Brief rationale: Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) is comprised of four sets of
reference values for nutrient intake levels that can promote health and prevent
diseases. It is likewise used as a standard from which the nutrient intake of an
individual is compared for nutritional assessment purposes and as a guide for
planning the diets of healthy people.
3. The nurse who is teaching a patient about food product labels points out that a
package of cookies labeled “low fat” contains cookies that have: (5pts)
A. No saturated fat.
B. Half the fat calories of traditional cookies.
C. Fewer calories than traditional cookies.
D. Very little fat per serving.
Brief rationale: Food descriptors containing the word ‘low’ implies that the food can be
often eaten without exceeding the recommended amount of the nutrient in question.
For fats, in particular, low fat means that the product contains three grams of fat or
less per serving.
 Week 3-4 Critical Thinking is Key

I. INSTRUCTIONS: Answer this post test individually. Encircle

the letter of your answer and include a brief rationale for your
response. Any form of cheating or copying of content from
classmates/others will automatically give you a failure mark.
Give your best answer, and think critically.
Good luck!
4. What is the best explanation of nutrient density? (5pts)
A. The nutrient widely available in a variety of foods.
B. Foods that contain a significant amount of specific nutrients for the least
amount of calories.
C. The practice of consuming foods from each food group everyday.
D. Those foods that make up the largest segment of My Plate.
Brief rationale: Nutrient density is concerned with the ratio of a food’s nutrient content
to the kilocalorie it provides. A food is considered nutrient-dense–as its name implies–if
it is loaded with high amounts of nutrients but is relatively low in calories.
II. ESSAY. Instructions: Give your best answer succinctly.
How should the nurse respond to the patient who says it is hard to know what to
believe when there are so many sources of information about nutrition, and that there
are so many abbreviations like DRI or UL or RDA? (10 pts)
Generally, government agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and universities
are considered to be reliable sources of nutrition as for the former, they are composed of
experts, while the latter engage in research studies. It must be noted that a person’s
testimonials should not be taken to heart since they simply represent opinions that are not fact-
checked. When it comes to printed materials, reputable journals, such as the American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition, the Journal of Nutrition, and the New England Journal of Medicine, that
subject articles or studies to peer-review processes for validation likewise disseminate quality or
accurate information. Aside from that, other reliable sources include newsletters and
organizations like the Tufts Health and Nutrition Letter, the Harvard Health Letter, as well as
the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Furthermore, the client can simply check the credentials
of the author in which the presence of a Registered Dietitian (RD) title signifies that the person
is an expert or has a degree in the field. If the information, in contrast, involves a product that
is being sold or offers benefits that are too good to be true, a red alarm should be raised.
DRI stands for Dietary Reference Intakes; it is a dietary standard that consists of the estimated
average requirements (EAR), recommended dietary allowances (RDA), adequate intake (AI),
and tolerable upper intake levels (UL). EAR refers to the recommended amount of nutrients
estimated to meet the nutritional requirements of half of the healthy individuals in a defined
group of a population. Meanwhile, the nutrient intake levels that meet the needs of
approximately 98 percent of healthy individuals in a specific population group are set by the
RDA. To reinforce the patient’s understanding, the nurse can cite a hypothetical situation that
can differentiate the two aforementioned reference values. For instance, the EAR for calcium is
800 mg per day for a group of men aged 51 to 70; if all of these men have consumed calcium
equivalent to the recommended amount set, only half of them would be able to meet their
nutritional requirement, while the other half would fall below. On the other hand, with reference
to the same situation, 1,000 mg per day is the calcium RDA value, which is generally higher
than the EAR as it is estimated to fulfill the needs of 98 percent of the individuals in a group;
the same is true with other vitamins and minerals. In this way, when men 51 through 70 years
Week 3-4 Critical Thinking is Key
of age follow the recommended calcium intake, they essentially lower their risk for calcium
deficiency. However, there are circumstances when data on the RDA for a nutrient is not
sufficient or available; in such cases, the AI is utilized, which comes up with approximations on
the daily intake levels for nutrients from observations or experimentations on the nutrient intake
of groups who are able to maintain good health or nutritional status. Lastly, UL reflects the daily
maximum quantity of a nutrient that can be consumed by almost all healthy individuals in a
group without putting themselves at risk for adverse effects; thus, provided that the UL for
calcium per day is 2,000 mg, a person with a usual consumption exceeding the said amount is
predisposed to kidney stones or hypercalcemia.