Learning Outcomes & Answers1. Demonstrate knowledge of human nutritional needs and the role of nutrition in improving individual health and the societal economic impact of food choices.
All human beings need to consume food and water to be able to exist. To function is to set a relatively low threshold for existing. Food and water provide our macro and micro-nutrient needs which help in body processes and function. There are three nutrient classes that support body function; those that provide energy, those that promote growth, development, and maintenance, and those that regulate body processes. Energy can only be obtained from carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids, these macro-nutrients along with water, vitamins, and minerals support the other body functions. The more varied and dense our nutrient ingestion is, within range of our caloric needs and upper intake level, the more complete our nutrition is. It is possible to be over nourished in one area and under nourished in another which is why variety and moderation play an important role in nutrition. Excess net caloric intake contributes to weight gain while excess vitamins and minerals can lead to toxicity, on the other hand lack of sufficient nutrients can lead to loss of body function, birth defects, and even death. 2. Relate technological advancements in medicine and food production to the advancement of the science of human nutrition. Technological advancement plays an important role in the advancement of medicine and food production which promotes the advancement of the science of human nutrition. If it weren’t for early discoveries in the way nutrients impact the body we could have prolonged the unnecessary scurvy disease, avoided simply by adequate intake of citrus fruits. We also wouldn’t have known to fortify salt with iodine as a way of preventing goiter, among other diseases that affect the thyroid. Knowledge of nutrient cellular makeup also allows us to recognize associations between vitamins and minerals and body functions to create medicines and vaccines that prevent disease. Nutrients also play a major role in reproduction and DNA, the surface of DNA modification has just been scratched, but research into removing undesirable traits from genetic code is underway. 3. Explain the impact that the food industry has on human food choices and the subsequent relationship to health and disease at the individual, societal, and environmental level. In the United States especially, the food industry is in control of what makes it to grocery stores and this plays a role in what ultimately what makes it into our homes. For example, prepackaged processed food products are everywhere and an unbelievable amount of marketing dollars go toward promoting these products to everyone from kids to adults on a daily basis. Food manufacturers want to make products that sell, and those products happen to be the ones with little nutrient density like candy, sweets, simple carbohydrates, and high fat foods. These foods are desirable because of their convenience, long shelf life, taste, and relatively low price for high calorie content. The ingredients of these foods are made up of the least expensive crops and food sources, which further incentivizes the processed food manufacturers and the ingredient suppliers to promote these foods and compromise nutrition for the bottom line. Grocery stores aren’t making high profit margins on frequently expiring produce, so they are left to diversify their healthy offerings with what pays them more and what people demand. And they cycle repeats itself. 4. Provide examples of past and present nutrient and diet trends in modern society and the positive and/or negative implications on human health and the earth’s resources. Some popular diet trends of the past and present include; severe calorie restriction, low-carb, low calorie, low fat, vegan/vegetarian, organic only, non-GMO, locavore, and the list goes on. Another trend that is persistent, especially in the United States, is that of overconsumption. Overconsumption does not only mean you eat more than your body requires, but that you obtain or prepare more than you or your family needs leading to waste or overconsumption of calories. Overconsumption also drives overproduction which leads to either more waste or more overconsumption, depletion of earth’s resources by killing the soil, eroding the landscape, and contaminating surrounding areas with chemicals or animal waste. Some of the other diet trends mentioned serve to combat some of these overconsumption issues, however, they have their own potential detractors. For example, limiting your diet to vegan/vegetarian, low fat, low calorie, and even organic or locavore only can cause deficiency in nutrients if you’re not consuming a wide variety of diverse nutrient dense foods to supply you with an adequate daily intake of all macro and micro nutrients. 5. Provide examples of positive and negative interactions of humankind with microorganisms regarding sickness, health and food production. There are many types of microorganisms inside and outside of the body which impact our nutrition. Some of the most commonly known are used in medicine like the bacteria penicillium in Penicillin, Penicillin can be invaluable as an antibiotic for some, but detrimental for those who are allergic. Another microorganism used in food production is Bacillus thuringiensis, it’s used as a way of increasing pest resistance in genetically modified Bt potatoes and corn which significantly reduces the impact of crop decimating insects, this allows us to better meet food production needs. Another microorganism people are becoming more familiar with today are probiotics, which are live “good” bacteria and yeasts that live in our digestive tract and help with digestion and regulation. 6. Address diet and nutrient issues and concerns for weight control, disease prevention, physical activity, food availability, and biotechnology. In the future we are going to need to take a serious, informed look at our food status, both what we personally consume and what others around the world consume. Finding balance between how much we produce, who it feeds, and how we allocate resources worldwide is most likely our only home for feeding the world’s growing population. It’s especially important as more people move to urban areas, in both developed and undeveloped nations, that infrastructure is in place to guarantee food education, food security, and sanitation. Food education to help everyone understand how consuming food with purpose impacts our nutrient intake, disease prevention, and empowers us to go though our daily activities to the best of our ability. Food security so that people everywhere have access to reasonably priced, nutrient dense, well balanced foods to help with promoting desired calorie and nutrient intake and prevent undernutrition. Biotechnology can help adapt crops to grow in less desirable climates, conditions, areas closer to populations in need, and help increase disease and pest resistance, reducing the need for pesticides. Finally, sanitation to help ensure foodborne illness and other complications and illnesses that arise from unsanitary conditions are mitigated, this would help decrease the strain on healthcare systems and promote overall wellbeing. |
Nutrition Perspectives
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Reflection. |
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Make connections between what you studied in this nutrition course with what you’ve learned in other courses at SLCC or before. Make specific references to your work in this class and in the other courses. How did what you learn in the other courses enhance what you learned in nutrition, and vice versa?
My major is marketing, so I am very familiar with how marketing and consumerism plays a role in nutrition choices. Marketing is based heavily in appealing to people's emotions and having them make decisions to purchase based on those emotions, so it is very interesting to see things from the side of science, and even to think about how you could appeal to people to make better nutrition choices based on fact. I don’t know that you could do it without cherry picking the reasons that appeal to desire and emotion. Even the book lists off all the reasons you want to make a certain nutrition decision, all factual, with some appealing to emotion and desire and some less motivating and attractive. When the book recaps the chapter, it seems to only repeat the reasons that appeal to emotion and desire, even if the other reasons are more nutritionally beneficial. This makes it seem that everyone must appeal to human nature to get their point across, even a scientific text book.
Reflect on how you thought about nutrition before you took this course and how you think about it now that the course is over. Have any of your assumptions or understandings changed? Why? What assignments/activities/readings were influential in this process? How will you approach (course topic) differently in the future?
Before I took this class, I was under the impression that more is better in regards to vitamins and minerals. It was enlightening to learn that food sources are the best way to obtain vitamins and minerals, about UL levels, and that toxicity rarely results from food sources. I also casually assumed, like most people, that GMOs were not good because of the impression left by all of the marketing surrounding products that are non-GMO. I appreciated the opportunity to write the research paper on Food Evolution because I was able to take an in depth look at the documentary. Under normal circumstances I would have watched it, but I might not have studied it as closely. I will approach nutrition by remembering the knowledge I’ve gained and from the perspective of balance and moderation, I think this is the most practical approach to nutrition.
My major is marketing, so I am very familiar with how marketing and consumerism plays a role in nutrition choices. Marketing is based heavily in appealing to people's emotions and having them make decisions to purchase based on those emotions, so it is very interesting to see things from the side of science, and even to think about how you could appeal to people to make better nutrition choices based on fact. I don’t know that you could do it without cherry picking the reasons that appeal to desire and emotion. Even the book lists off all the reasons you want to make a certain nutrition decision, all factual, with some appealing to emotion and desire and some less motivating and attractive. When the book recaps the chapter, it seems to only repeat the reasons that appeal to emotion and desire, even if the other reasons are more nutritionally beneficial. This makes it seem that everyone must appeal to human nature to get their point across, even a scientific text book.
Reflect on how you thought about nutrition before you took this course and how you think about it now that the course is over. Have any of your assumptions or understandings changed? Why? What assignments/activities/readings were influential in this process? How will you approach (course topic) differently in the future?
Before I took this class, I was under the impression that more is better in regards to vitamins and minerals. It was enlightening to learn that food sources are the best way to obtain vitamins and minerals, about UL levels, and that toxicity rarely results from food sources. I also casually assumed, like most people, that GMOs were not good because of the impression left by all of the marketing surrounding products that are non-GMO. I appreciated the opportunity to write the research paper on Food Evolution because I was able to take an in depth look at the documentary. Under normal circumstances I would have watched it, but I might not have studied it as closely. I will approach nutrition by remembering the knowledge I’ve gained and from the perspective of balance and moderation, I think this is the most practical approach to nutrition.