Term 1 Class 8

The City School

By reading this handout, learners will be able to:

➢ List the principal sources of, and describe the dietary importance of, carbohydrates, fats,
proteins, vitamins, mineral salts, fibre (roughage) and water
➢ Identify examples of each type of food.
➢ Define balanced diet.
➢ Explain the importance of balanced diet.
➢ Analyze energy requirement of different people.
➢ Calculate energy value of a healthy daily diet

Humans need many different nutrients to survive. To receive these nutrients in the correct
quantities, a balanced diet must be eaten. A balanced diet includes all essential nutrients, such
as carbohydrates, fats and vitamins, in the correct amounts needed for growth and repair.
Balanced diets vary between people. The amounts of nutrients needed are different for people
of different ages and genders. The amount of nutrients needed also varies depending on the
amount of physical activity undertaken by individual people each day. In addition, pregnant
and breastfeeding women need more nutrients as they must be able to feed their baby as well
as themselves.

Balanced Diet

• A balanced diet consists of all of the food groups in the correct proportions
• The necessary food groups are:
o Carbohydrates
o Proteins
o Lipids
o Vitamins
o Minerals
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o Dietary Fibre
o Water

Specific vitamin and mineral requirements:

Vitamin A

• It is fat-soluble.
• Function: It is essential for eye health.
• Deficiency: This may cause night blindness and keratomalacia, which causes the clear front
layer of the eye to grow dry and cloudy.
• Food sources: These include liver, cod liver oil, carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, butter, kale,
spinach, pumpkins, collard greens, some cheeses, eggs, apricots, cantaloupe melon, and milk.

Vitamin B1

• It is water-soluble.
• Function: It is essential for producing various enzymes that help break down blood sugar.
• Deficiency: This may cause beriberi
• Food sources: These include yeast, pork, cereal grains, sunflower seeds, brown rice, whole
grain rye, asparagus, kale, cauliflower, potatoes, oranges, liver, and eggs.
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Vitamin E

• It is fat-soluble.
• Function: Its antioxidant activity helps prevent oxidative stress, an issue that increases the
risk of widespread inflammation and various diseases.
• Deficiency: This is rare, but it may cause hemolytic anemia in newborns. This condition
destroys blood cells.
• Food sources: These include wheat germ, kiwis, almonds, eggs, nuts, leafy greens, and
vegetable oils.

Vitamin K

• It is fat-soluble.
• Function: It is necessary for blood clotting.
• Deficiency: Low levels may cause an unusual susceptibility to bleeding.
• Food sources: These include natto, leafy greens, pumpkins, figs, and parsley.

Iodine

Iodine is an essential trace mineral not made by the body so must be obtained by food or
supplements. It is found naturally in some foods and is added to supplements and some salt
seasonings. Iodine is needed to make the thyroid hormones which assist with the creation of
proteins and enzyme activity, as well as regulating normal metabolism. Without enough iodine,
these thyroid hormones do not work properly and can lead to an under-active or overactive thyroid
gland, causing the medical conditions.
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Food Sources:

Seaweed ,Fish, shellfish (cod, canned tuna, oysters, shrimp), Table salts labeled “iodized”,
Dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt), Eggs, Beef liver, Chicken.

Sodium:

The body uses sodium to control blood pressure and blood volume. Your body also needs
sodium for your muscles and nerves to work properly.

Food Sources: Shrimps, soup, cottage cheese, vegetable juice, salad dressing, broths and stocks.
Malnutrition:
The lack of a balanced diet can lead to malnutrition which can have a variety of outcomes:
● Starvation - caused by eating too little food, leads to weight loss, organ damage, muscle
atrophy and eventually death.
● Constipation - caused by a lack of fibre, leads to pain, stomach ache and inability to
defecate.
● Coronary heart disease - caused by a build-up of cholesterol in the coronary artery
which limits blood flow to the heart and can cause heart attacks. Cholesterol is a result
of too much saturated fat in the diet, which comes from foods such as high fat dairy
products and fatty meats.
● Obesity - caused by eating too much food, leads to a range of health issues including
diabetes, high blood pressure, strokes and heart disease.
● Scurvy - caused by lack of vitamin C, leads to bleeding under the skin and around gums,
premature stopping of bone growth in children leading to stunted growth, and very dry
skin and hair.
● Kwashiorkor and marasmus - these are conditions caused by protein-energy
malnutrition, which is a result of having a protein or calorie deficiency over a long
period. Kwashiorkor occurs due to a severe protein deficiency and a
carbohydrate-based diet and is often developed by older children, whereas marasmus
is more common with young children and babies.
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Why is energy needed?

The human body converts the food it consumes into energy in order to function and stay alive. This
energy supply enables the body to do a number of things vital to its survival, including:

Maintaining the body's essential functions

An individual who does not perform in any physical activity will still require roughly 1,200 calories a
day in order to maintain their body’s essential functions.

These essential functions include: the heartbeat, metabolism of foods, respiration and regulation of
water and body temperature.

Enabling physical activity and movement

Physical activity includes all forms of movement so the vast majority of individuals will perform
some sort of physical activity each day.

The more active an individual is the more energy they will require.

Allowing for growth and repair of tissues (especially during specific times)

Every individual will require some degree of tissue repair but more energy will be needed during
periods of growth in which new tissues are formed. This includes the life stages of infancy,
childhood and adolescence due to an increase in body size.
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During pregnancy, more fetal growth occurs so more energy is required. After birth, there is a higher
energy demand placed on the body during lactation, as the production of breast milk is energy
intensive.

Factors influencing energy requirements

Energy from food is measured in kilocalories. You need to ensure you are consuming enough
kilocalories to meet the demands of your BMR and PAL, alongside many other factors.

Factors that affect the amount of energy an individual requires can include:

BMR

BMR represents roughly 75% of daily energy expenditure. This can influence the energy an
individual requires depending on their age, gender, body size and composition (as explained
above).

Energy requirements for growth and synthesis of tissues are as follows: During the first three
months of life, growth uses about 35% of total energy needs. This falls to 5% at 12 months,
reduces to less than 2% in the second year of life and finally to 1–2% until mid-adolescence and
0% by 20 years of age.

Gender

Adult males often have about 10-20% more muscle mass than females of the same size and age.
Therefore, males have a higher BMR as muscle burns more calories than fat, resulting in males
requiring about 5-10% more energy than females.

Age

Children and adolescents need more energy for growth and development in comparison to
adults. As individuals grow older, their energy requirements reduce as their body composition
changes leading to a reduction in BMR. Many people also become less active as they get older.

Occupation

An individual with an active job such as a personal trainer or a builder will require more energy
than an individual with a more sedentary job such as a receptionist in an office.
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Physical Activity Levels (PAL)

An active person who exercises daily will require more energy than someone who is inactive, and
therefore will have a higher PAL than someone who is less active. If an individual is completing
intensive physical training such as running a marathon they will be required to increase their
energy intake significantly to meet the demand.

Illness

Energy requirements may need to increase to help recover from an illness.

Specific needs

Energy requirements for pregnant or lactating women need to increase slightly (for example, by
200 kilocalories per day during the last trimester of pregnancy) to support the growing foetus and
to produce milk for their baby.

Energy balance

Energy balance is the relationship between energy input (calories consumed through food and
drink) to energy output (calories used by the body for our energy requirements) being equal.

This relationship dictates whether weight is lost, gained, or remains the same.
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Recommended energy values of protein, fat and carbohydrates

Carbohydrates, proteins and fats provide the energy obtained from food.

Each nutrient provides a different amount of energy, measured in kilocalories:

• 1 gram of carbohydrate provides 3.75 kilocalories.

• 1 gram of protein provides 4 kilocalories

• 1 gram of fat provides 9 kilocalories

All individuals over the age of 2 have a recommendation to follow for the percentage of
recommended daily energy intake.

These are referred to as Dietary Reference Values (DRVs) and are set by the government as:

• Total carbohydrates – 50% with no more than 5% from free sugars.

• Total fat – no more than 35% with no more than 11% from saturates.

• Protein – 15% as a secondary source of energy.

Estimated energy requirement EER: