Introduction to Nutrition

Instructor: Dr. Huynh Tien Dat

Email: [Link]@[Link]
 Chapter 1
1.1 Overview about nutrition
1.2 Understand terminology in nutrition
1.3 Vietnamese dietary guidelines
1. OVERVIEW ABOUT NUTRITION

Atmosphere Water

Life

Daily activities
Nutrients essentials for rebuild tissues
Maintain functional system and and body growth
organs in body

Energy

FOODs
• Foods: play importance roles to maintain a healthy body
– understanding the composition of food
– functions of food components

▪ Foods: life more interesting

- flavors, colors and textures.
- important events, ceremonies and anniversaries

Functions of foods:
1. Physiology function
2. Psychology function
3. Social function
 WHAT IS FOOD ?
ALL EDIBLE MATERIALS THAT PROVIDE NUTRIENTS FOR BODY. FOOD MAY BE IN SOLID
OR LIQUID FORMS

PROVIDE:
Energy for activities, maintain body functions, growth by metabolism
of nutrients
Normally classify into 6 categories:
1. Protein
2. Carbohydrate
3. Lipid
4. Vitamin
5. Minerals
6. Water
VARIETY:
Each food contains wide range of nutrients . Sometimes, one food
just provide a single nutrients (ex: sugar)
 WHAT IS NUTRIENT ?
COMPOUND CONTAINED IN FOOD MATRIX THAT THE BODY NEEDS TO IMPLEMENT
ITS FUNCTIONS

Substance in foods used by the body to serve one or more of the following
purposes:
Provide a source of energy
Provide structure
Regulate chemical reactions in the body

6 main groups:
1. Protein, 2. Carbohydrate, 3. Fat, 4. Vitamin, 5. Minerals, 6. Water

Each group may provide some nutrients and each nutrient has a unique
function in the body
WHAT IS NUTRITION?
1. Is the science of nourishment of the body about:
- a balance diet
- research of nutrients:
Properties, functions, requirements, digestion, absorsption, metabolism; effects in
case of deficiency, overnutrition; relationships between nutrients

2. It is the combination of processes by which the living organism receives and

utilizes the materials (food) necessary for the maintenance of its functions
and for the growth and renewal of its components

Including processes:
- Eating: right TYPE and AMOUNT of food
- Digestion
- Absorption nutrients into blood stream
- Cellular utilization of nutrients
- Excretion of abundant nutrients
 FOOD AND HEALTH
1. MALNUTRITION
Is the status of unhealthy due to imbalance nutrients in the diet. It is due either
to excess (overnutrition) or to a deficiency (undernutrition) of one or more
food constituents.
▪ UNDERNUTRITION: Energy, one or many nutrients deficiency. The
person correlated to underweight

▪ OVERNUTRITION: Excessive intake of energy, one or many nutrients. It

leads to overweight or obesity and being toxic (ex. Vitamin A)

2. DIET:
Types and amount of food intake everyday. There are normal diet and diet for special
purposes

KILOCALORIE (kcal)
Is the unit to measure the energy value of food. It is defined as thermal energy
to rise temperature of 1000g water 1oC
3. HEALTH?
World Health Organisation (WHO): Health is a state of complete physical, mental,
and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

A HEALTHY PERSON
Good mood

Is seen as healthy

Feel healthy

Social responsibility

When tired or exhausted cannot concentrate on job. Keep balance between

working and resting
 4. NUTRITIONAL STATUS
The status of body health due to the utilization of nutrients

Assessment by:

Examine type and amount of food consumption

Height, weight

Signs, symptoms Amount of nutrients

- Blood test
- Urinary test
 NUTRITION HEALTH
Clean
Wholesome Healthy
Adequate

Cooking: Clean
Ensure a good health
Origin of food: “wholesome”
Diet: Balance

Buying Serving

Preservation
Cooking

Need basic understanding about nutrition, preservation and processing

 Functions of Foods

PSYCHOLOGY PHYSIOLOGY SOCIAL

Energy Growth Rebuild Prevention Regulation

Carbohydrate Protein Protein Vitamin Mineral

Fat Minerals Minerals (Protein) Vitamin
(Protein) Water Water Water
(Carbohydrate) (Carbohydrate) Fiber
(Fat) (Fat)
(Vitamin) (Vitamin)
1 PHYSIOLOGY

Providing energy
Physical activities: walking, playing sport, do works…
Activities of systems: Digestive, Circulative…

Growth
Growth of cells and tissues
From infant baby to healthy adult

Maintenance
Rebuilt cells to replace died cells
Repair damage cells

Regulation
control, regulation heart beat, ambient, excretion

Prevention
Infection
Immune system
2 PSYCHOLOGY FUNCTIONS

Food and mood and love

• Your mum send all her love on meals for you

• Compensation, show your love with your parents, family

members

• Punishment

• People feel safe when they eat familiar foods

• Sadness and disapoinment

• Lonely
3 SOCIAL

• The warm of friendship demonstrate by sharing foods

together

• Prepare a favorable foods for friends, lovers, spouses

• Ceremony, anniversaries

• Religions
 CLASSIFY OF NUTRIENTS
Approximately 15 classified into 6 groups

Based on body requirement divided into 2 groups:

Macronutrient and micronutrient

Macronutrient Micronutrient

• Water • Vitamin
• Glucid • Minerals
• Protein
• lipid

Require high Require low or

amount of very low
macronutrient amount of
s micronutrient
s
All have important roles
Unit of weight of macronutrients is gram
Unit of weight of micronutrients is miligram and microgram
 2. UNDERSTANDING THE NUTRITION
TERMINOLOGY
Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI): a set of
nutrient intake values for healthy people. These
values are used for planning and assessing diets
and include:
● Estimated Average Requirements (EAR)
● Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA)
● Adequate Intakes (AI)
● Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (UL)
 Understanding the nutrition
terminology
To develop Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI):
• Using the results of thousands of research
studies
• Carefully review by nutrition experts (high
qualified scientists)
• Then, produce a set of standards that define
the amounts of energy, nutrients, and other
dietary components that best support health.
 ● Estimated Average Requirements
(EAR)
The average daily amount (requirement) of a
nutrient that will maintain a specific biochemical
or physiological function in half the healthy
people of a given age and gender group.

requirement: the lowest continuing intake of a

nutrient that will maintain a specified criterion
of adequacy
● Estimated Average Requirements
(EAR)
 ● Recommended Dietary Allowances
(RDA)
Once a nutrient requirement is established, the
committee must decide what intake to
recommend for everybody—the Recommended
Dietary Allowance (RDA)
● Recommended Dietary Allowances
(RDA)
 ● Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA)
Amount of food required to maintain a good health, vary from individual to individual
Each person has a RDA based on
Age
Sex
Body size
Activity
Health status

Lower RDA Higher RDA

 ● Adequate Intakes
For some nutrients, such as vitamin K, there is
insufficient scientific evidence to determine an
EAR (which is needed to set an RDA). In these
cases, the committee establishes an Adequate
Intake (AI) instead of an RDA
AI must rely more heavily on scientific
judgments because sufficient evidence is lacking
AI values are more tentative than RDA values
 ● Adequate Intakes
The average daily amount of a nutrient that
appears sufficient to maintain a specified
criterion; a value used as a guide for nutrient
intake when an RDA cannot be determined.
 ● Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (UL)
• Recommendations are generous: not right for
every individual.
• Nutrient intakes probably best not to exceed
recommendations by very much or very often
• Greater than the recommended intake is a point
beyond which a nutrient is likely to become toxic
• This point is known as the Tolerable Upper Intake
Level (UL)
• People use large-dose dietary supplements and
fortified foods regularly
General view of EAR, RDA (or AI) and UL
 ● Estimated Energy Requirement
(EER)
The average dietary energy intake that
maintains energy balance and good health in a
person of a given age, gender, weight, height,
and level of physical activity
EER: very specific, not generous as RDI and AI
No UL for EER
 ● Acceptable Macronutrient
Distribution Ranges (AMDR)
• People don’t eat energy directly
• They derive energy from foods containing
carbohydrates, fats, and proteins
• To the total energy intake, and those
contributions vary in relation to one another
 45 to 65 percent kcalories from carbohydrate
 20 to 35 percent kcalories from fat
 10 to 35 percent kcalories from protein
● Acceptable Macronutrient
Distribution Ranges (AMDR)
3. Planning a healthy diet-Vietnamese
dietary guidelines
Diet-planning principles: 6 basic principles
1. Adequacy
2. Balance
3. Energy control (kcal)
4. Nutrient density
5. Moderation
6. Variety
3. Planning a healthy diet-Vietnamese
dietary guidelines
Diet-planning principles: 6 basic principles
1. Adequacy: providing all the essential
nutrients, fiber, and energy in amounts
sufficient to maintain health.
2. Balance: providing foods in proportion to one
another and in proportion to the body’s
needs.
3. Energy control (kcal): management of food
energy intake
3. Planning a healthy diet-Vietnamese
dietary guidelines
4. Nutrient density: a measure of the nutrients a
food provides relative to the energy it provides. The
more nutrients and the fewer kcal, the higher the
nutrient density.
• Example 1: Fat-free milk delivers about 85
kcalories with its 300 milligrams of calcium.
Calcium density: 300 mg calcium/85 kcal = 3.5 mg
per kcal
• Example 2: fresh turnip greens, which provide 15
kcalories with the 100 milligrams of calcium
Calculate calcium density?
3. Planning a healthy diet-Vietnamese
dietary guidelines
5. Moderation: providing enough but not too
much of a substance.
6. Variety: eating a wide selection of foods
within and among the major food groups.
 Vietnamese dietary guidelines
• Vietnam uses a three-dimensional food pyramid
to represent the messages of its guidelines.
• The pyramid is divided into seven layers
according to recommended levels of
consumption.
• Cereals and tubers are at the bottom, followed by
vegetables, fruits, protein-rich foods, fats and
oils.
• Sugar and salt are at the apex of the pyramid.
Vietnamese dietary guidelines

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 Vietnamese dietary guidelines
Messages
• Eat a range of meals that include all four food
groups: carbohydrates, protein, fats, and vitamins
and minerals.
• Eat protein-rich foods from a good balance of
vegetable and animal sources. Increase the intake
of shrimp, crab, fish and beans/peas.
• Eat appropriate amounts of vegetable and animal
fats/oils with a good combination between them.
Sesame and peanut oils are recommended.
 Vietnamese dietary guidelines
Messages
• Do not use too much salt. Iodized salt is
recommended.
• Eat vegetables and fruits every day.
• Ensure food safety rules during selection,
processing and preservation of foods.
• Drink adequate boiled water every day.
 Vietnamese dietary guidelines
Messages
• Initiate breastfeeding right after birth, exclusively
breastfeed during the first 6 months, then start
proper complementary feeding and continue
breastfeeding until 24 months.
• Children over 6 months of age and adults are
recommended to consume milk and dairy
products appropriate to their age.
• Increase physical activity, maintain an appropriate
weight, abstain from smoking and limit your
consumption of alcoholic/soft drinks and sweets.