NUTRITION FOR OUR HEALTHY LIVING

Nutrition and health are complementary to each other and is essential for our healthy living. Nutrition deals with the dynamic process, in which the consumed food is utilized for nourishing the body. For the healthy state of the body the balanced diet is important. The balanced diet consists of right kind of foods in right proportions, as to provide the required energy and maintaining the vitality and well-being. All the nutrients together with water form the main bulk of food. The six nutrients are proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and water.

PROTEINS: –

Proteins are of prime importance. They’re made up of amino acids and carry out the vital processes in the body and provides nutrition. They’re the building blocks of muscles and helps in the growth of children and adolescents.

DAILY REQUIREMENT OF PROTEINS FOR NUTRITION:-

• As proteins cannot be stored in the body, its daily requirement is essential. In infants (0-6 months to 0-12 months) up to 1.16 to 1.69 g/kg/day is required.
  • The boys (16-18 years old) requires 61.5 g/kg/day.
  • In young girls (16-18 years old) requires 52.1 g/kg/day.
  • As in an adult men 60.0 g/kg/day and in women 55.0 g/kg/day are required.
  • In pregnant and lactating women the demand increases up to 82.2 g/kg/day (55 + 27.2).
• SOURCES:-
• Animal sources :

Foods	Nutrient content g/100g edible portion
Milk (cow)	3.2
Meat	26
Egg (approx.. 44gm)	13.3 (per egg)
Cheese, etc.	25
Fish	20

(The egg proteins are considered to be the best animal protein.)

• Vegetable sources:

Soybean	43.2
Pulses ( Bengal gram, black gram, green gram, lentil and red gram)	22
Groundnuts, cashew nuts and almond	23

CARBOHYDRATES:-

This constitutes the main bulk of our diet. They are present as mono and disaccharides which is sweet and are soluble in water, whereas polysaccharides are not sweet like that of starch, cellulose. Carbohydrates are the main source of energy, nutrition, and also essential for the oxidation of fats.

DAILY REQUIREMENT :

It is 400 to 500 grams daily. It should constitute nearly 60 to 70 percent of total energy requirement of the body.

SOURCES :

Main source of carbohydrates are cereals, pulses, fruits, roots and tubers. Sugar, jiggery and honey are 100 percent carbohydrates.

Starch is present in cereals, millets, roots and tubers. Thus, it is chief source of the energy.

Cellulose is a fibrous substance (dietary fiber) present as a lining in the cereals and pulses, fruits and vegetables. It has no nutritive value.

• CARBOHYDRATE AND DISEASE: High intake of sweets disposes for the obesity.High intake of sucrose (sugar) can leads to the rise in blood glucose level and disturb the function of pancreas cells.Sucrose favors the growth of bacteria in oral cavity and can corrode the dental enamel.
• DIETARY FIBER :It is found in vegetables, fibrous fruits (pineapple), brans and whole grains as lining. The dietary intake of fibers is very important for the health as it makes faeces bulky and the deficiency of fiber leads to constipation and increases the hardness of faeces. And great straining is required to defecate and may predisposes for the development of hemorrhoids, hernia, varicose vein etc.

FATS:-

The fats are essential for day to day life and serve various functions in our body. A small amount of fat is needed to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, D, E, and K.

DAILY REQUIREMENT:

The daily requirement of essential fatty acids is about 5 grams. It’s slightly more in infants, growing children, pregnant women.

SOURCES:

	Fats	Saturated fatty acids	Unsaturated fatty acids
Animal fats	Butter	60	20.0
	Meat	10-20	0.5
	Egg	13.3	0.3
	Buffalo milk	7.5	0.5
	Cow’s milk	3.8	0.5
	Fish oil	2.0	10.0
Vegetable oils	Groundnut oil	20	40
	Mustard oil	08	15
	Sunflower oil	08	45
	Coconut oil	92	04

• APPLIED ASPECTS: The high fat intake, more than 40 percent of the total energy per day is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease as it increases the cholesterol level in blood especially the low density lipoproteins.

VITAMINS:-

They are so called because they carry out the vital functions in the body. They do not provide energy like the above mentioned nutrients but they enable the body to use other nutrients. They are required in small amount in the body.

VITVITAMIN	SOURCE	CONTENT OF VITAMIN IN FOOD (microgram/day)	DEFICIENCY CAUSES
A	Green leafy vegetables	5500	Night blindness
	Carrot	6460	Bitot’s spots
	Tomato ripe	350	Corneal xerosis
	Milk, etc.	160	Keratomalacia
B Complex	Whole wheat	0.45	Beriberi
	Groundnut	0.9	Pellagra
	Gingelly seed	1.00	Cheilosis , glossitis
	Cow’s milk	0.05	Wernicke’s encephalopathy
	Raw, milled rice	0.06
C	Citrus fruits like lemon  and Indian gooseberry	53- 75	Scurvy, delayed healing of wounds, anemia, weakness.
	Tomato, orange	67-100mg
D	Cod liver oil	200-500	Rickets
	Egg yolk	1.5	Osteomalacia
	Butter	1.5
E	Egg yolk	05.0	Miscarriage and sterility
	Soybean, etc.
K	Cow’s milk	60	Hemorrhages
	Cheese, egg yolk

MINERALS:-

These are the inorganic salts of elements. They’re required for growth, repair and for performing metabolic functions.

MINERALS	RICH SOURCES	REQUIREMENTS (mg/100g)	DEFICIENCY CAUSES
Calcium	Leafy vegetables	Adult man and women- 600	Osteoporosis
	Ragi , sitaphal	Pregnant woman- 1200	Growth retardation
	Cow’s milk	Children – 600
Iron	Green leafy vegetables, ragi	Adult man and woman- 17to 21	Anemia, growth retardation
	Jiggery and dried fruits.	Pregnant women-35, Children – 9 to 16	During pregnancy end up in abortions, premature birth.
Iodine	Sea foods	Adult – 150	Goiter
	Cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables.	Pregnant woman- 200, children- 120
Fluorine	Drinking water and food	0.5 to 0.8	Fluorosis

HEALTH IS WEALTH

As it is clear by now, that food rich in nutrition is the key to good health both physical and mental. The small change in lifestyle and diet can make a huge difference in persons’ life. The balanced diet having all the required nutrients essential for the proper harmony of body functions. The 60 percent of human adult body is water and keeping body hydrated will increase the smoothness of skin and prevent the dull and dry skin. The proper diet with regular exercise boosts up the immune system and prevent from the risk of communicable diseases. With the maintenance of the healthy state of the body it is also essential to clean up the environment or the surrounding as environment is one of the determinant of health.

Example: the environment made up of physical (air, water, soil, etc.) biological (plants and animals) and social (culture beliefs, customs, etc.). Any disturbance in the external environment disturbs the internal environment of an individual. It is important to maintain the equilibrium between human beings and environment.