The International School of Elite Education

Key stage 3- Year 8 Term 2- January 2026

Name: ………………………………/ Class: ………. Science Department

Unit 7: Diet and Growth study guide

Balanced diet

This means eating the right amount from different

food groups. Too much may cause obesity and too
little may cause malnutrition(underfeeding).

• Malnutrition is a serious health problem. It

happens when people do not eat the right
amounts of nutrients.

• Too little food, or a lack of nutrients, can

cause deficiency diseases or death.

• Too much food results in obesity. This may

cause heart disease or type 2 diabetes

Deficiency diseases: a disease that occur due to a lack of essential nutrients in the diet specially
vitamins and minerals.

Some people eat enough food to supply their energy needs, but are short of certain vitamins and
minerals. This causes deficiency diseases. For example:

• Iron deficiency causes anemia. This leads to tiredness and shortness of breath.

• Vitamin A deficiency can result in blindness.

• Vitamin C deficiency causes scurvy. Symptoms of scurvy include bleeding gums, bulging eyes
and scaly skin.

• Protein deficiency can affect many bodily functions, often resulting in swollen, puffy skin and
muscle wastage.

Nutrients

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Nutrients are essential substances that the body needs. There are different types of nutrient, each with
its own purpose:

• Carbohydrates provide energy. They are found in bread, potatoes, rice and pasta.

• Lipids (fats and oils) provide energy. Lipid-rich foods include butter and chips.

• Proteins provide materials to make new cells and to repair damaged tissues, such as muscles.
Beans, eggs, fish, meat and milk are high in protein.

• Vitamins are vital in many processes. For example, vitamin K helps blood to clot and vitamin C
prevents illness. Fruit and vegetables are vitamin-rich.

• There are 16 essential minerals. These include iron, used to transport oxygen in the blood, and
calcium, used in making bones and teeth.

Fiber

Fiber is not a nutrient. It cannot be absorbed by the body and contains no calories or vitamins,
however it is necessary for a balanced and healthy diet.

Fiber adds bulk to food, and helps it to pass through the digestive system. Fiber also prevents
constipation and heart disease.

Fruit, vegetables and wholegrain cereals are high in fiber.

Water

• Cells and blood contain a lot of water. Almost 90% of a person’s body weight is made up of
water.
• Water in cells allows all the different chemicals inside them to dissolve, so that they can react
together. These reactions keep us alive.
• Water in blood allows it to flow easily, transporting substances all over the body.

Carbohydrates, fats and proteins

Carbohydrates: The rice contains a lot of starch. Starch is a type of carbohydrate.

• After you have eaten starch, the body breaks it down to make a sugar called glucose.
• Glucose is the fuel that your cells use for respiration, to release energy. So starch, sugar and
other carbohydrates are needed to give you energy.

Proteins: The chicken and beans contain a lot of protein.

• Protein is important for making new cells in the body.

• So you need protein to help the body to grow, or to repair itself if it gets damaged.
• Protein is also needed to make hemoglobin and antibodies.

Fats and oils:

• The avocado contains fats and oils. Fats and oils are very similar, but fats are solid at normal
temperatures and oils are liquid. Fats and oils give you energy. They are also needed to make
cell membranes.

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 • Energy stores: You store a little bit of carbohydrate, and quite a lot of fat, in your body. These
energy stores provide you with energy whenever you need it.
• You store a small amount of carbohydrate in your cells, especially in the liver and muscles.
These are short-term energy stores.
• Fat stores in the body also provide heat insulation. Animals that live in cold places, like this
seal, have a lot of fat stores underneath their skin, to help to stop them losing heat from their
body.

Nutrient Examples of foods that contain a lot of this Why the body needs this nutrient
nutrient
Protein fish, meat, dairy products, eggs, milk, to make new cells for growth and
beans and peas repair; to make hemoglobin and
antibodies
Carbohydrate cereal grains (and foods made from them, For energy
such as bread and pasta), potatoes and
sweet foods such as biscuits, chocolate
Fat fatty meat, dairy products (milk, cheese, for energy; to make cell membranes; to
butter), coconut milk, oil used in cooking store for long-term energy supplies and
insulation

Vitamins

Vitamins are nutrients that are needed in only small amounts, but if you don’t eat them you can get
ill. There are lots of different kinds of vitamin. Each kind is given a letter.

Minerals

There are several different kinds of mineral that you need to eat. Two of the most important ones are
calcium and iron.

Nutrient Examples of foods that Why the body needs this nutrient
contain a lot of this nutrient
vitamin A Green vegetables, to help the
carrots, squash, fruit, eyes to work well, especially
dairy products, fish in low light; to help white
blood cells to destroy pathogens
vitamin C citrus fruits, to keep skin strong and able to heal
potatoes, quickly; keeps blood vessels and
berries bones healthy
vitamin D most is made in our skin helps calcium to be absorbed
when sunlight falls on it; oily fish from food; for strong bones and teeth
Calcium dairy products, seeds and nuts for strong bones and teeth

Iron red meat, dark green vegetables, to make hemoglobin

fish, shellfish, nuts, seeds (which is found in red blood cells and
transports oxygen)

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Diet

Your diet is the food that you eat each day. Your diet should provide you with some of all the
different kinds of nutrients. It should also give you the right amount of energy.

A diet that provides all the different kinds of nutrients, and the right amount of energy, is called a
balanced diet.

How much energy?

Each day, the energy in the food you eat should be approximately equal to the energy that you use
up. Most of your energy comes from the carbohydrates and fat that you eat.

Different people use different amounts of energy. For example:

• If you do a lot of sport, or walk or run a lot each day, you use more energy.

• If you don’t move around much, you use less energy.

• Some people’s genes mean that their body uses up energy more quickly than other people doing the
same thing.

• If you are growing fast, you need extra energy to help your cells to divide.

• Tall people use more energy to move their body around than small people.

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Different diets

• Different people need different diets.

• Everyone needs plenty of minerals and vitamins, but people vary in how much protein and
carbohydrate they need.

Here are some examples.

• Young people who are still growing need a lot of protein to make new cells. If they use a lot of
energy, then they need to eat enough carbohydrate to give them plenty of energy. They need to
eat a little bit of fat, for energy and also for making the membranes on the new cells.

• People who have to sit down for a lot of the day don’t use up as much energy as people who
are very active. So they don’t need to eat as much carbohydrate or fat as someone who has a
job that involves moving around, or who does a lot of sport.

• A pregnant woman needs to eat plenty of protein to help to build her growing baby’s new cells.
She also needs lots of iron in her diet, to make hemoglobin in her own blood and her baby’s
blood. She should eat plenty of calcium, for building her baby’s bones.

Growth, development and health

Every person on Earth began their life as a single cell. This cell divided to produce two cells. Each of
these cells got bigger, then divided again.

To begin with, the cells are all the same. They produce a little ball of cells called an embryo, and
eventually a baby.

Cells contain a lot of protein. Energy is needed to make cells divide. A pregnant woman and a
growing child need plenty of protein in their diet, as well as enough energy to help cells to divide.

What is human growth?

In physical terms, growth is simply the steady and irreversible increase in the size of a physical
being.

Development refers to the complex changes in skills and capabilities, including cognitive, emotional,
social, and motor skills.

Unlike growth, development is not always visible or measurable in the physical sense, and positive
development depends on a supportive and stimulating environment.

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 Exercise and health

• Taking regular exercise is a really good thing to do. This

helps to use some of energy in the food you eat each day,
stopping you from storing too much as fat.
• It also makes the heart and muscles work hard, so that they
become strong.
• Exercise can also make people feel more cheerful and positive
about life.

Smoking

• Smoking cigarettes damages the smoker’s health.

• It also damages the health of people around them, who accidentally
breathe in cigarette smoke.

Tobacco is a plant that is grown for its leaves. The dried leaves are usually made into cigarettes,
cigars, or pipe tobacco.
Tobacco contains many different harmful substances.

1-Nicotine

Tobacco smoke contains nicotine. Nicotine can help someone to stay alert.

Nicotine is addictive. This means that it is difficult to manage without it, once
you are used to smoking. This is why smokers find it so difficult to stop
smoking.

Nicotine damages the blood vessels in a smoker’s body. It makes them get narrower, so it is harder for
blood to get through them. Smokers are more likely than non-smokers to develop heart disease.

2-Tar

Tobacco smoke contains a mixture of dark, sticky substances called tar. Some of the chemicals in tar
cause cancer. Cancer happens when cells start dividing out of control and spread to other parts of the
body. Smoking increases the risk of getting many different kinds of cancer, including lung cancer.

3-Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas. When it gets into the body, it combines with hemoglobin inside
red blood cells. This stops hemoglobin doing its normal job, which is to combine with oxygen and
transport it to all the body cells that need it. So a smoker’s cells don’t get enough oxygen. They
cannot carry out enough respiration, so don’t have enough energy.

4-Particulates

Tobacco smoke contains tiny particles of carbon and other materials, called particulates. They get
trapped inside the smoker’s lungs. This makes the walls of the alveoli break down. Instead of having
millions of tiny alveoli in the lungs, the smoker has a lot of big spaces. This makes it difficult for them
to get enough oxygen into their blood.

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Moving the body

The skeleton You only need to remember the names of

the bones in the human skeleton that are circled.

Animals’ bodies are supported by a skeleton.

Insects and other arthropods have a skeleton

on the outside of their body. This is called an

exoskeleton. Your skeleton is inside your body. It
is made of bones.

• Bones are hard and strong. They contain a

lot of calcium. I
• if you do not have enough calcium in your
diet, your bones may not grow properly.
• Bones contain living cells, so you also need
protein in the diet to build strong bones.

The skeleton plays a crucial role in the human body, it is composed of 206 bones. The skeleton's main

functions include:

1. Protection – Bones like the skull and ribcage protect our organs, such as the brain and heart.

2. Support – The skeleton supports muscles and tissues, enabling us to stand upright.

3. Blood cell production – The marrow within our bones produces blood cells.

4. Movement – Muscles attached to bones, and

joints help us to move.

Joints

Bones cannot bend. Joint is where two bones meet

one another. Bones are linked together by joints.
Most joints allow different parts of the skeleton to
move.

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 Type of joint Examples Movement allowed

Knee, elbow

The same as opening and

closing a door, with no
Hinge joint rotation (turning)

Hip, shoulder

Ball and Back and forth in all

socket directions, and rotation

Muscles

Muscles work by getting shorter. We say that they contract (become

shorter), and the process is called contraction.
Muscles are attached to bones by strong tendons (Tough material joining
a muscle to a bone.) When a muscle contracts, it pulls on the bone, and
the bone can move if it is part of a joint.

• Muscles can only contract and relax, so they always work in pairs
called antagonistic muscles.

• Skeletal muscle is joined to bones. Its cells contract to make bones move and joints bend

Antagonistic muscles

Muscles can only pull and cannot push. This would be a

problem if a joint were controlled by just one muscle. As
soon as the muscle had contracted and pulled on a bone,
that would be it, with no way to move the bone back
again. This problem is solved by having muscles in pairs,
called antagonistic muscles.

(Antagonistic muscles: A pair of muscles that act on a joint. As one contracts, the other one relaxes.)

For example, your elbow joint has two muscles that move your forearm up or down. These are the
biceps on the front of the upper arm and the triceps on the back of the upper arm:

• to raise the forearm, the biceps contracts and the triceps relax.

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 • to lower the forearm again, the triceps contracts and the biceps relax.

• Examples of antagonistic muscles:

Many of your muscles are attached to bones, by tough cords called tendons. When the muscle
contracts, it pulls on the tendon, which pulls on the bone. This makes the bone move at a joint.

Look at the biggest muscle in the diagram.

This is the biceps. (Biceps is an unusual word,

because it ends in an s even though it is singular.

One biceps, two biceps.) ‘Bi-‘means two. This

muscle is called the biceps because it has two tendons

that attach it to the scapula. The longer, thinner

muscle in the diagram is the triceps.

Antagonistic muscles

You can see that the biceps muscle and the triceps muscle work as a team.

• To bend the arm, the biceps contracts and the triceps relax.

• To straighten the arm, the triceps contracts and the biceps relax.

Two muscles that work together like this are called antagonistic muscles.

When one of them contracts, it moves the bones at a joint in one direction. When the other muscle
contracts, it moves the bones in the other direction.