Introduction to

Nutrition & Diet Therapy

What is Nutrition?

- Materials and food necessary to

support life and growth.

- Study of food and how the body

makes use of it.

- includes behaviors and social

factors related to food choices
What are the functions of nutrition?

✓To give you more energy and

✓Maintain life by allowing an individual alertness throughout the day
to grow and be in a state of optimum
health. ✓To prevent and lower the risk
for certain illness and lifestyle -
✓As your body grows, it is important to related diseases such as:
take care of it by eating nutritious food Diabetes, Obesity and Cancer
with the proper amount of servings. ✓To provide nutrients that your
body needs to be able function
well and perform the activities of
daily living
WHY INCLUDE THE STUDY OF NUTRITION IN NURSING?

•The recognition of the role of nutrition in

preventing diseases or illnesses

•The concern for adapting food patterns of

individuals to their nutritional needs within the
framework of their cultural, economic and
psychological situation and style;

•The awareness of the need in specified disease

states to modify nutritional factors for therapeutic
purpose.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
1. Food Security 2. Food Insecurity
the condition in which all people, at all times, the state of being without
have physical, social and economic access to reliable access to a
sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets sufficient quantity of
their dietary needs and food preferences for an affordable, nutritious
active and healthy life. food.

4. Nutrients
- substances that provides nourishment essential for growth and the
maintenance of life.
3. Calorie – unit of - a component in foods that an organism uses to survive and
energy grow. Macronutrients provide the bulk energy an organism's
metabolic system needs to function while micronutrients
provide the necessary cofactors for metabolism to be carried
out.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
7. Antioxidants
- a substance that inhibits oxidation,
5. Food Terrorism especially one used to counteract the
- An act or threat of deliberate contamination of deterioration of stored food products.
food for human consumption with -protect the body from damage caused by
chemical, physical or microbiological harmful molecules called free radicals.
agents for the

6. Phytochemicals
- any of various biologically active compounds found in plants.
- are non-nutritive plant chemicals that have protective or disease
preventive properties. They are non-essential nutrients, meaning
that they are not required by the human body for sustaining life.
- CANCER FIGHTERS in the foods we eat found in fruits, vegetables,
grains & beans.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
10. Metabolism
8. Essential nutrients - is the set of life-sustaining chemical
- nutrients required for normal physiological transformations within the cells of living
function that cannot be synthesized by the organisms. The three main purposes of
body, and thus must be obtained from a dietary metabolism are the conversion of food/fuel to
source. The six essential nutrients include energy to run cellular processes, the conversion
carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals of food/fuel to building blocks for proteins, lipids,
and water. nucleic acids, and some carbohydrates, and the
elimination of nitrogenous wastes.

9. Non-essential nutrients
- those nutrients that can be made by the body but may also be
absorbed from food. Examples of non-essential nutrients includes:
Dietary fiber and non-essential amino acids such as alanine, Arginine,
Asparagine, Aspartic acid, L-Cysteine, Glutamic Acid, Glutamine, Glycine,
Histidine, Ornithine, Proline, Selenocysteine, Serine, Taurine and Tyrosine
DEFINITION OF TERMS

12. Malnutrition
- lack of proper nutrition, caused by not having
enough to eat, not eating enough of the right things,
being unable to use the food that one does eat, or are
11. Recommended Dietary Allowance
too much such that the diet causes health problems.
- the estimated amount of a nutrient (or
calories) per day considered necessary for the
-Occurs when there is a deficiency of certain vital
maintenance of good health by the Food and
nutrients in a person’s diet. The deficiency fails to
Nutrition Board of the National Research
meet the demands of the body leading to effects on
Council/ National Academy of Sciences.
the growth, physical health, mood, behavior and other
functions of the body. Malnutrition commonly affects
children and the elderly.
DEFINITION OF TERMS

13. Chronic Diseases 14. Nutrient Dense Foods

- long-term medical conditions that are - foods relatively rich in nutrients for the
generally progressive. Some examples number of calories it contains.
of chronic diseases include heart Examples: salmon, seaweed, green leafy
disease, diabetes, stroke, and chronic vegetables, garlic, shellfish, potatoes,
respiratory problems (e.g. COPD). At liver, sardines, blue berries, egg yolks,
present, these are the major cause of and dark chocolate (cocoa).
disability and death globally.

15. Probiotic - a nondigestible food ingredient

that promotes the growth of beneficial
microorganisms in the intestines.
DEFINITION OF TERMS

16. Empty Calorie Foods 17. Functional Foods

- food such as solid fats or added sugars - foods that have a potentially positive
supplying food energy but little or no other effect on health beyond basic nutrition
nutrition. Usually are highly processed which promote optimal health and help
foods such as cakes, biscuits, pies, pastries, reduce the risk of disease. Example
shop-bought desserts, sweetened fruit would be oatmeal and orange juice
drinks and ice cream as well as alcoholic fortified with calcium.
drinks such as beers and wines.
THANK YOU!