Lecture 1

CHS 214

Introduction to the Science of

Nutrition and
Related Definitions
Objectives
 Introduction
 Definitions
 Energy from food
 Functions of food nutrients
 Composition of human body
 Nutrition assessment of individual
 Sign of good nutrition
 The relationship of nutrition with other sciences
 Nutrient intake limits
Introduction
 Most of the organized studies of nutrition have been
confined to the 20th century.
 Although there was evidence of long-standing curiosity
about nutrition.
 Hippocrates, the father of medicine(400 BC) considered
food as one universal nutrient.
 Antonie Lauret Lavoisier(18th century, a French chemist) is
known as father of nutrition.
 In Islam there are many verses of the Quran and Hadeeths
in food and nutrition.
 Some of these fact has just been proved by the modern
science and some not.
 Nutrition has played a significant role in our life,
even from before our birth.

 Many people are concerned only with food that

relives their hunger or satisfies their appetite .

 But in many times, these foods don't supply

their bodies with all the component of good
nutrition.
Definitions
 Food:
Foods are products derived from plants or animals
.
that can be taken into the body to yield energy and
nutrients for maintenance of life ,for growth and
repair tissues.
Food is that nourishes the body.
Food is a prerequisite of nutrition.
 Diet
Diet is the foods and beverages a person eats and
drinks.
Food composition
Nutrients:

Chemical substances obtained from foods used in the body to

provide energy, structure materials, regulating agents to
support growth, maintenance, repair of body's tissues and may
also reduce the risks of some diseases.
Nutrients divided into two categories:
 Macronutrients
 Are the nutrients which the body needed in large amount such
as carbohydrate, protein and fats.
 Carbohydrates, protein and fats are the main source of energy
for human body.
 Are the energy yielding nutrients.

 Micronutrients
Are nutrients needed in lesser amounts such as: Vitamins
& minerals.
 Chemical composition of the nutrients

Organic nutrients: substance that contain carbon atom.

Inorganic: substances that do not contain carbon atoms.
 Essential nutrients:
Are nutrients a person must obtain from food because
the body cannot make them for itself insufficient
quantity to meet physiological needs. Also called
indispensable nutrients.
 Nutrition:
• Nutrition is the science of foods, nutrients and
other substances they contain their actions within
the body (including ingestion, digestion,
absorption, transport, metabolism and excretion).
• A broader definition includes the social,
economic, cultural, and psychological
implications of food and eating.
 Nutritional requirements

The amounts of nutrient which are needed for covering the

human needs to be healthy depend on sex, age and few
other factors.
 Nutritional status
An individual condition of health in relation to
digestion and absorption of nutrients.

Nutritional care:
Application of the science of nutrition in nourishing
the body regardless of health problems or potential
problems.
Adequate diet: is a diet providing all
the needed nutrients in the right total amounts.
Junk food:
Refers to foods that are harmful.
 Calories
• The energy released from carbohydrates, proteins and
fats can be measured in calories.
• A calorie is the amount of heat necessary to raise
temperature of 1 gm of water by 1 C.
• 1000-calorie metric units are known as kilocalories
(kcal).

Empty-kcalorie foods
a popular term used to denote foods contribute energy
(from sugars, fat or both)
but lack in protein, vitamins and minerals Example:(potato
chips and candies).
 Dietetics
the health profession responsible for the application of
nutrition science to promote human health and treat
disease

Metabolism
The sum of all chemical reactions that take place in the
body which it maintains itself produces energy for its
functioning.
  Nutrition science
Nutrition science:
1-The study of nutrients and other substances in foods and the
body's handling of them.
2-Its foundation depends on several other sciences including
biology, biochemistry, and physiology.
3- Comprises the body of knowledge governing the food
requirement growth, activity, reproduction and lactation.
 Nutritional genomics:
the science of how nutrients affect the activities of
genes and how genes affect the interactions
between diet and disease.
 Malnutrition:
Malnutrition has two types:
 Undernutrition: deficient energy or nutrients.

•Symptoms of under nutrition (extremely thin, losing muscle

tissues, prone to infection and disease, skin rashes, hair loss,
bleeding gum and night blindness).

 Overnutrition: excess energy or nutrient.

•Symptoms of overnutrition (heart disease, diabetes, yellow

skin, rapid heart rate and low blood pressure).
 Nitrogen balance
 The proteins in the body undergo constant
turnover (degraded to amino acids and
resynthesized).

 Nitrogen balance is the difference between the

amount of nitrogen taken into the body each day
and the amount of nitrogen in compounds lost.
 if:1- More nitrogen is ingested than excreted, a person is
said to be in positive nitrogen balance (growing
individual such as children and pregnant).
 2- Less nitrogen is ingested than is excreted (negative
nitrogen balance, person eating either too little protein
or protein is deficient in one or more of the essential
amino acids, new protein cannot be synthesized and the
unused amino acids will be degraded, body function will
be impaired by the net loss of critical proteins.
 3- In contrast, healthy adults are in nitrogen balance and
the amount of nitrogen consumed in the diet equals its
loss in urine.
 Nutritive value

The amounts of nutrient which the food consist of,

determined by using:
 Food analysis.
 Food analysis tables.
Energy from food
 The amount of energy a food provide depends on how
much CHO, fat, and protein contains.
 When completely broken down in the body,

1 gm CHO 4 kcal of energy

1 gm protein 4 kcal of energy
1 gm of fat  9 kcal of energy
therefore fat has the greater energy density than either
CHO or protein.
 Alcohol is not considered a nutrient because it interferes
with health but it yields energy
1 gm of alcohol 7 kcal of energy
Functions of food nutrients

1-Provide energy sources

2-Build tissues
3-Regulate metabolic process
1-Provide energy sources
 The major carbohydrates in the human diet are starch,
sucrose, fructose and glucose.

 Dietary carbohydrate (starches and sugars) provided

the body's primary source of fuel for energy.

 Oxidation of carbohydrates to CO2 and H2O in the

body produces approximately 4 kcal/g.

 They also maintain the back-up store of quick energy

as glycogen (animal starch).
 Fats are lipids composed of triacylglycerols.

A triacylglycerol molecule contains three fatty acids esterified

to one glycerol molecule.

 Dietary fats, from both animal and plant

sources, provided the body's secondary or storage form of
energy.

 It is a more concentrated, yielding 9 kcal for

each gram consumed.

 In a well-balanced diet, protein provided about 15 % of the

total kcalories.

 Each gram of protein can yield 4 kcal.

How to calculate the energy available from 1 slice
of bread with 1slice of bread with 1 tablespoon
of peanut butter on it contains 16 grams
carbohydrate, 7 grams protein and 9 grams
fat?
2-Build tissues
• Proteins are composed of amino acids that are joined to form
linear chains.
• The digestive process breaks down proteins to their constituent to
amino acids, which enter the blood.
• The primary function of protein is tissue building and repairing
body tissues.
• Dietary protein provides amino acids, amino acids are the
building unit necessary for construction and repairing body
tissues.
• Muscle protein is essential for body movement.
• Other proteins serve as enzymes.
• Other nutrients such as minerals and vitamins used in tissue
building and maintaining tissue.
• Minerals are also found in the fluids of the body and influence
their properties.

• There are 13 different vitamins, one vitamin enables the eyes

to see in dim light,
protect the lungs from air pollution
make the sex hormones,
stop the bleeding,
helps repair the skin,
replace old blood cells and lining of the digestive tract.
 3-Regulate metabolic process
• Many vitamins and minerals function as coenzymes factors in
cell metabolism.
• Other nutrients (water and fibers),
water provides the environment in which nearly
all the body's activities.
Also, in many metabolic reactions and supplies the medium
for transporting vital materials to cells and waste products
away from them.
• Dietary fibers help regulate the passage of food material
through the gastrointestinal tract and influences absorption of
various nutrients.
Composition of human body

6% 2%

14%
water (61%)
Protein (17%)
Fats(13.8)
Minerals(6.1%)
17% 61% Carbohydrates(1.5)
Nutrition assessment of individual

Evaluation of person's nutrition

1- Historical information (socioeconomic status, drug use, diet
and person's family history).
2-A=Anthropometric data (height and weight).
3- B= biochemical data (Laboratory tests).
4-C=clinical assessment(Physical examinations)
5-D=Dietary assessment
Sign of good nutrition
1. Well-developed body.
2. Ideal weight.
3. Good muscle development.
4. The skin is smooth and clear
5. The hair glossy and the eyes clear and bright.
6. Appetite, digestion and elimination are normal.
7. Have good resistance to infection.
The relationship of nutrition with
other sciences
There are three main areas of overlapping between
nutrition and medicine:
1-dietary control of disease.
2-the relationship between diet as a possible causative
factor in disease ex: cancer, heart diseases etc.
3-the toxicology of natural and processed foods.
Nutrient intake limits Accurate View

Naive View Danger of toxicity

marginal

Safety Safety

RDA RDA
Safety

Danger
marginal

Danger of deficiency
Thank you for
listening 