Nutrition

What is Nutrition?

Nutrition is the science that deals with all the various factors of which food is composed and the way in which proper nourishment is brought about. The average nutritional require­ments of groups of people are fixed and depend on such measurable char­acteristics such as age, sex, height, weight, and degree of activity and rate of growth. Nutrition science studies the relationship between diet and states of health and disease. Nutrition science seeks to explain metabolic and physiologic responses to diet. With advances in molecular biology, bio­chemistry, and genetics, nutrition sci­ence is additionally developing into the study of integrative metabolism, which seeks to connect diet and health through the lens of biochemical processes. Food is anything solid or liquid that has a chemical composi­tion, which enables it, when swal­lowed to do one or more of the fol­lowing :

a)       Provide the body with the materi­al from which it can produce heat, or any form of energy.

b)              Provide material to allow growth, maintenance, repair or reproduc­tion to proceed. Supply sub­stances, which normally regulate the production of energy or the process of growth.; repair or reproduction.

Good nutrition requires a satis­factory diet, which is capable of supporting the individual con­suming it, in a state of good health by providing the desired nutrients in required amounts. It must provide the right amount of fuel to execute normal physical activity. If the total amount of nutrients provided in the diet is insufficient, a state of under nutrition will develop.

Definitions on Nutrition

The council on Food and Nutrition of the American Medical Association defines nutrition as "The science of foods, the nutrients and the substances therein, their action, inter­action and balance in relation to health and diseases. Nutrition science is the area of knowledge regarding the role of food in the maintenance of good health. Thus nutrition is the study of food at work in our body.

Nutrition is defined by the World Health Organization of the United Nations as the " State of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity (or ill- health/ill­ness)".

How it is caused?

Between the extremes of optimal health and death from starvation or malnutrition, there is an array of dis­ease states that can be caused or alle­viated by changes in diet. Deficiencies, excesses and imbalances in diet can produce negative impacts on health, which may lead to diseases such as scurvy, obesity or osteoporo­sis, as well as psychological and behavioral problems. Comparing the waste to the food can determine the specific types of compounds and ele­ments absorbed by the body. The effect that the absorbed matter has on the body can be determined by finding the difference between the pre-inges-tion state and the post-digestion state. The effect may only be discernible after an extended period of time in which all food and ingestion must be exactly regulated and all waste must be analyzed. Ill health can be caused by an imbalance of nutrients, produc­ing either an excess or deficiency, which in turn affects body functioning cumulatively.    Moreover because

most nutrients are, in some way or another, involved in cell-to-cell sig­naling (e.g. as building block or part of a hormone or signaling 'cascades'), deficiency or excess of various nutri­ents affects hormonal function indi­rectly. Thus, because they largely reg­ulate the expression of genes, hor­mones represent a link between nutri­tion and how our genes are expressed, i.e. our phenotype. The strength and nature of this link are continually under investigation, but observations especially in recent years have demonstrated a pivotal role for nutri­tion in hormonal activity and function and therefore in health.

Reasons behind Deficiency

The underlying causes of under nutrition vary across regions. In many Asian countries poverty, the low status of women, poor care during pregnancy, high rates of low birth weight, high population densities, unfavorable child caring practices, and poor access to health care are underlying causes. Conflicts and natural disasters in many countries have further exacerbated the situation. Poverty, low levels of educa­tion, and poor access to health services are major contributors to childhood malnutrition, a complex issue that requires tackling on a wide number of fronts. Under nutrition is implicated in more than half of all child deaths world­wide. Undernourished children have lowered resistance to infection; they are more likely to die from common child­hood ailments like diarrhoea! diseases and respiratory infections, and for those who survive, frequent illness saps their nutritional status, locking them into a vicious cycle of recurring sickness and faltering growth. Their plight is largely invisible: three quarters of the children who die from causes related to malnu­trition were only mildly or moderately

undernourished, showing no outward sign of their vulnerability.

How to avoid Deficiency P

Eating a variety of fresh, whole (unprocessed) foods has proven hor-monally and metabolically favorable compared to eating a monotonous diet based on processed foods. In particular, natural, whole foods provide higher amounts and a more favourable balance of essential and vital nutrients per unit of energy, resulting in better manage­ment of cell growth, maintenance, and mitosis (cell division) as well as regula­tion of appetite and energy balance. A generally more regular eating pattern (e.g. eating medium-sized meals every 3 to 4 hours) has also proven more hor-monally and metabolically favourable than infrequent, haphazard food intake. Twelve vitamins and about the same number of minerals are recognized as "essential nutrients", and that they must be consumed and absorbed - or Vitamin D, to prevent deficiency symptoms and death. Certain vitamin-like substances found in foods, such as carnitine, have also been found essential to survival and health. An appropriate balance of essential fatty acids - omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids - has been discov­ered to be crucial for maintaining health. Both of these unique "omega" long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are substrates for a class of eicosanoids known as prostaglandin which function as hormones.

Trends and Current Status of Malnutrition in the world

In the developing world, 17% of the populations were undernourished during 1997-1999, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Astonishingly, this translates into 777.2 million individuals who did not have enough food to meet their daily energy needs. On the positive side, this is a decline from 816.3 million, or 20% of the population, who were undernourished from 1990-1992. These numbers, however, are heavily influenced by China, which makes up a little more than 25 percent

of the

developing world's population, and which decreased its proportion of undernourished by 7 percentage points between 1990-92 and 1997-99. Therefore, excluding China, the num­ber of undernourished in the develop­ing world actually increased from 1990-92 to 1997-99 from 623.7 mil­lion to 660.9 million.

Regions and Countries

At the regional level, Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest pro­portion of undernourished from 1997-1999 at 34%. Asia and the Pacific fol­low at 20% (excluding China), then Latin America and the Caribbean with 11%, and the Near East and North Africa region at 9%. The Asia and the Pacific region (excluding China) was the best performer, decreasing its prevalence by 3 points. Taking a longer view provides FAO data for developing regions with two Asia sub-regions for the percentage of under­nourished for 1969-71, 1979-81, 1990-92 and 1996-98. The best per­former was East and South Asia, decreasing 30 percentage points from 43 to 13 percent over the time periods, although these data do include China. Interestingly, the Near East and North Africa region had its greatest decline between 1969-71 and 1979-81, decreasing from 25 to 9 percent, but then experienced a slight increase from 1990-92 to 1996-98 by 2 per­centage points. Latin America and the Caribbean experienced a total decline of 8 percentage points, dropping from 19 to 13 percent from 1969-71 and 1979-81, and then staying at 13 per­cent until a drop to 11 percent in 1996-98.

At the country level, there are eight countries that have 1997-99 prevalence rates of undernourished over 50%, three of which are in East Africa, two in Southern Africa, one in Central Africa, one in the Near East, and one in the Caribbean. They include: Somalia (75%), Burundi (66%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (64%), Afghanistan (58%), Eritrea (57%), Haiti (56%), Mozambique   (54%)   and   Angola

(51%). A poor spend most of its income on food, and a dollar a day does not provide for a healthy diet. Poverty data provides further insight into which countries are in need of food assistance. There is concern about reaching the 1996 World Food Summit's goal of halving the number of undernourished people in the devel­oping world to approximately 400 million by 2015. If the decline con­tinues at the current rate of 6 million per year, the goal will not be met. At this point, the rate would need to increase to 22 million a year to reach the Summit's goal.

Facts about Hunger

•    More than 840 million people in the world are malnourished - 799 mil­lion of them live in the developing world.

•    More than 153 million of the world's malnourished people are children under the age of 5.

•    Six million children under the age of 5 die every year as a result of hunger.

•    Malnutrition can severely affett a child's intellectual development. Malnourished children often have stunted growth and score signifi­cantly lower on math and language achievement tests than do well-nourished children.

•    Lack of dietary diversity and essen­tial minerals and vitamins also con­tributes to increased child and adult mortality. Vitamin A deficiency impairs the immune system, increasing the annual death toll from measles and other diseases by an estimated 1.3 million-2.5 million children.

•    While every country in the world has the potential of growing enough food to feed itself, 54 nations cur­rently do not produce enough food to feed their populations, nor can they afford to import the necessary commodities to make up the gap. Most of these countries are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Most of the widespread hunger in a world of plenty results from grind­ing, deeply rooted poverty. In any

given year, however, between 5 and 10 percent of the total can be traced to specific events: droughts or floods, armed conflict, political, social and economic disruptions.

Where India Stands in Deficiency ?

India ranks 3rd from bottom of the world on malnourished kids. In the Global Hunger Index, India ranks 117th for the prevalence of under­weight children. Only Bangladesh and Nepal are worse-off. Overall, India is ranked 96th out of 119 coun­tries covered by the index, which doesn't show a good sight. But India comes off far worse in its record for malnutrition in children, as measured by body weight. The proportion of children found underweight in India, according to the latest figures is 47.5 per cent, which makes it worse than conflict-plagued, drought-stricken Sub-Saharan Africa, where the figure is some 30 per cent on average. India's figure is also worse than that of individual Sub-Saharan countries.' The Global Hunger Index combines three indicators: child malnutrition, child mortality, and estimates of the

proportion of people who are calorie-deficient. The index has been calcu­lated for 1981, 1992, 1997, and 2003. The latest round ranks 119 countries, of which 97 are deemed "developing" and 22 "in transition" [report by the Washington-based International Food Policy Institute (IFPRIYJ. In India, women eat the last and the least, increasing the chances of anemia. 83 percent of women in India suffer from iron deficiency anaemia, as opposed to about 40 percent in sub-Saharan Africa. One-third of the babies born in India are born with low birth weight, compared to one-sixth in sub-Saharan Africa.

How to overcome Malnutrition P

A healthy balanced diet is one very important component for overall health. A healthy balanced diet keeps body nutrise & trim, gives lot of ener­gy and lowers risk of certain disorders such as cardiovascular diseases, dia­betes and some cancers. The best way to get all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients is to eat a variation of foods, no one food can provide all to keep the body healthy. Body needs a well balanced diet, with a good supply of carbohydrates, especially high - fiber foods, water vitamins and minerals, and a certain amount of protein, fat and bacteria. Meals should be based on carbohydrates, such as pasta, whole-meal bread, wholegrain cere­als, rice or potatoes, along with fruits and/or vegetables. The main meal should include a source of lean pro­tein, along with carbohydrate and plenty of vegetables and fruits. Healthy living and healthy eating should not be thought of as temporary fixes or short-term goals to be dis­carded. It is important to design a long-term, healthy-eating and healthy-living plan that fits one's indi­vidual goals and lifestyle and then implementing changes that can be maintained and built upon. Setting realistic goals is an important step toward healthy living and managing weight successfully.