General Nutrition
Maria A. Fiatarone Singh, John Sutton Chair in Exercise, Nutrition, and the Older Woman, 2000
Nutrition is more than just the food we choose to eat. The science of nutrition encompasses all the interactions that occur between living organisms and the nutrients in food. These include the body’s ingestion, digestion, absorption, transport, metabolism, storage, and excretion of nutrients. Nutrients are chemical substances that provide energy, structure, and regulation of body processes. To date, approximately 45 nutrients must be supplied by the diet and are known as essential for human life. The six classes of nutrients are carbohydrate, fat, protein, vitamins, minerals, and water. When food is metabolized in the body, carbohydrate, fat, and protein are broken down to yield energy, measured in calories, which supports all of the activities we perform. The carbohydrate and protein in food supply 4 calories per gram, and fat supplies 9 calories per gram. The vitamins, minerals, and water do not provide energy, but help in metabolic, structural, and regulatory processes in the body.
Medicinal Properties of Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)
Dilip Ghosh, Pulok K. Mukherjee in Natural Medicines, 2019
The science of nutrition progressed from the discovery of nutrients and the study of their functions, metabolism, requirements and recommendations. However, there were far more functions of foods observed than could be accounted for by the presence of known nutrients. These were mainly related to disease prevention or healing properties of foods and the components responsible for these. These properties were also being used traditionally in many ethnic populations. Considerable data has been collected regarding the composition and health benefits of all classes of foods, starting from whole grains, fruits and vegetables, to herbs, spices and condiments. Among these, ginger is a widely grown and used spice both in fresh and dry form for cooking as well as for medicinal purposes. This chapter deals briefly with the nutritional and medicinal properties of ginger.
Functional Foods
Mary J. Marian, Gerard E. Mullin in Integrating Nutrition Into Practice, 2017
Health is no longer considered just the absence of disease, but rather is the optimization of mental and physical well-being12; thus, the continued interest of consumers in the prevention of disease and optimal health will likely increase the consumption of functional foods.39 Nutrition science is more focused on optimal nutrition than just on the role essential nutrients play in the prevention of disease.8,40 For many years, the primary focus of the food industry was on subtracting ingredients considered less healthy from processed foods in an effort to make foods healthier. Functional foods shift the focus from eliminating less healthy ingredients to adding beneficial ingredients for similar effects.37 Evidence is growing that some food components not considered nutrients in the traditional sense can provide positive health benefits beyond basic nutrition. The use of food to provide health benefits beyond the prevention of deficiencies is a reasonable progression of traditional nutrition intervention.4
Health and nutrition: Social work’s role
Published in Social Work in Health Care, 2020
In order to gain a level of competence in nutrition to work with clients, outside of understanding the key recommendations of the 2015–2020 DGAs, there are nutrition-based terms that social workers should become familiar. Using a well-regarded textbook on nutrition, Whitney, E. N., & Rolfes, S. R. (Whitney & Rolfes, 2018). Understanding Nutrition. (15th edition) Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning, a list of terms that are unfamiliar in social work education but are terms that our clients will have heard on the news or read about on the internet were compiled (see Table 1). The science of nutrition is a fast-growing field. As noted earlier, it is moving the conversation of nutrition from calorie counting into discussions of complex biomedical mechanisms and pathways, into the realm of epigenetics (Stevens et al., 2018). While social workers do not need to know the minute details of nutritional science, social workers need to be aware that nutrition is being addressed at the genetic level now. Social workers should have a familiarity with the terms that our clients might be using, and we should know when to consult with a nutrition professional or other health-care professional on behalf of our client. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to define the identified terms in ways to help social workers better help their clients understand what they mean and how they impact their health.
“Prescribing” Exercise and Nutrition in Cancer Care
Published in Oncology Issues, 2020
Jessica Clague DeHart, Jeffrey Massin, Cailey Barnes, Marissa Ramirez
Similar to physical activity and exercise, it is important to know your patients and familiarize yourself with their eating habits. Nutrition is another major aspect of wellness that can help reduce risk of cancer due to overweight or obesity. Providers need to be clear with cancer patients about the differences between nutrition, diet, and dieting. “Nutrition” is the act or process of receiving appropriate amounts of nutrients. This includes protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and water as a means of survival.18 A “diet” simply refers to what one eats and drinks daily. On the other hand, “dieting” refers to restricting oneself to a specific diet for the goal of losing weight. A “nutritious diet” is what everyone should strive for and what providers should be communicating to their patients.
Implementation of an Interprofessional Nutrition Workshop to Integrate Nutrition Education into a Preclinical Medical School Curriculum
Published in Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2021
Marie Cavuoto Petrizzo, Lauren Block, Doreen M. Olvet, Eva M. Sheridan, Rebecca Dougherty, Matthew Whitson, Janice T. John, Maria-Louise Barilla-LaBarca, Stephanie DiFiglia-Peck, Alice Fornari
On the day of the workshop all students participated in a 20-minute interdisciplinary nutrition framing discussion. The framing discussion was led by a gastroenterologist and Registered Dietitian. Topics included the purpose of a nutritional assessment, why nutrition is important to clinical practice, and how a medical provider can conduct a nutritional assessment. Students were then divided into preassigned groups consisting of 16 students following the framing discussion. Each small group was presented with 3 different clinical case vignettes for analysis and discussion. The first case described a patient with diabetes and morbid obesity. The second case depicted a breastfeeding, vegetarian mother with vitamin deficiencies. The third case highlighted irritable bowel syndrome in a patient with potential dietary triggers. Each of the cases were assigned to a faculty team consisting of a physician and registered dietitian. This joint facilitation approach provided a critical interprofessional approach to learning. Faculty teams rotated through the student groups rooms during the 75-minute workshop. Students were tasked with reviewing a relevant nutritional and dietary history, interpreting laboratory data and physical exam findings, reflecting on the value of the nutritional assessment for each case, and advising the patient. Each case discussion lasted 25 minutes.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Biochemistry
- Malnutrition
- Organic Matter
- Physiology
- Metabolism
- Lipid
- Carbohydrate
- Nutrient
- Carbon
- Biological Thermodynamics