Module 7
Food,Nutrition &Health
As we already knew that our food has an impact on the environment and climate change, we started this module implementation with the question:
How do we choose food that preserves the planet and our health?
and made an introduction with the following statements:
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Good nutrition helps keep us healthy and active and therefore improves our enjoyment of life.
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A good diet and eating habits are essential for proper growth and development and to prevent disease.
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Poor diet and nutrition lead to a variety of varied and extremely serious health problems. Many of these problems disable individuals throughout their lives; a number of them result in death.
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Learning to meet our biological needs throughout life by selecting the right foods for a healthy diet will help us prevent some of the terribly debilitating health problems caused by poor nutrition.
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Eating well to stay healthy requires a basic knowledge of foods and the nutrients they provide, as well as an understanding of our biological needs throughout the different stages of life. With this information, we can adopt sensible eating habits throughout our lives, allowing us to be as healthy as we are.
Then we informed students that in this module we will discuss :
- the dimensions of health
- the impact of nutrition on human health
- the eating habits and healthy diets
- the impact of food on human health
01
The dimensions of health
Being in good health means more than just being free from illness or disease.
While being physically healthy is the first step to good health, good mental health and social well-being are also necessary. In fact, health is defined by the World Health Organization as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. This means that to be in good health, we must take care of our bodies, our minds and emotions, and we must pay attention to our life-styles and surroundings. This definition of health recognizes that every person is complex and must be valued for all of their dimensions, not just for their physical ones.
We have a chance to be in the best health when we are aware of all dimensions of good health and when we work toward improving ourselves in as many of them as we can.
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Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not just the absence of disease or infirmity.
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Good health depends on making positive personal choices, including eating nourishing food, being physically active, and avoiding unhealthy habits, such as smoking, drug and alcohol abuse and risky sexual practice.
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Good health is best achieved through the combined efforts of the individual and the community which provides those services which help protect or improve health.
Source: Eat well for good health - FAO
02
The "One Health" concept
The concept of "One Health" has been promoted since the early 2000s, with the awareness of the close links between human health, animal health and the global ecological state. It aims to promote a multidisciplinary and global approach to health issues.
Your mission :
01
Summarize and present in infographic form the three key points about what it means to be in good health and and how they link with the "One Health" concept.
02
Discuss: What do you think of the "One Health" concept? What's the value of it?
Impact of nutrition to human health
In this section we took a look at how nutrition can affect our health, what conditions are necessary for people to have good nutritional status and what conditions can lead to poor nutritional status and malnutrition.
We developed the knowledge necessary for good nutritional status in order to prevent disease and to care for ourselves and our families appropriately.
Fundamental conditions for good nutritional status
01
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The foundation for good physical health is good nutritional status. Nutritional status is directly affected by the foods we eat and their nutrient content. Good nutritional status depends on eating the right amounts and the right variety of safe, good quality foods to meet our individual nutritional needs.
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Food provides the energy and nutrients needed to support all body functions, maintain good health and carry out everyday activities. Food contains many ingredients, called nutrients, which help the body function well. Foods are complex mixtures of different components, providing varying amounts of the nutrients the body needs. Most nutrients cannot be produced by the body and must be taken in adequate amounts from the food we eat in order to be healthy and prevent disease. No single food contains all the nutrients needed by the body in the right amounts; one food may be rich in one or two nutrients, but low in other essential nutrients. It is only by eating adequate amounts of a variety of foods that we can help ensure that we will take in the right amounts of the nutrients needed for good health and nutritional status.
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Equally important is access to food that ensures good nutritional status. For example, if local shops and markets do not offer a good variety of foods, if people cannot afford the food that is available, if their diets lack the variety needed for all of the essential vitamins or minerals, if adequate food is not available in all seasons and all year long, or if food is spoiled, contaminated or unsafe to eat, people will not have the food they need for good nutritional status.
02
Malnutrition : poor nutritional status
When we eat, we consume three types of macronutrients in large quantities: fats, proteins and also sugars and starches, both of which are classified as carbohydrates.
We also consume nutrients in smaller quantities: minerals and vitamins, also called micronutrients.
Nowadays, with intensive farming methods, transportation and storage times between harvesting and consumption, and refinement processes, our food is very depleted in micronutrients.
The energy intake in macronutrients and therefore in calories is maintained, but our food is depleted in micronutrients.
This is called empty calories and our modern diet is full of them, which is the cause of many deficiencies that can lead to disease.
YOUR MISSION
1- Summarise in infographic form the rules for a good nutritional status and the consequences of an unbalanced food intake. Differentiate problems caused by "undernutrition" and "overnutrition".
2- From the data available on this website, each partner country will have to
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present in graphic form the data on the nutritional status of children and adolescents as well as adults in 2020
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students will be able to calculate their BMI and compare it to the data for their own country
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make a conclusion by comparing with partner countries
3- Discuss: How important is it to have good nutritional status? What conditions are needed to have good nutritional status?
Eating habits
and healthy diets
We need to eat to meet our nutritional needs, but people often make their food choices for reasons other than nutrition:
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the availability of foods and their cost;
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the taste and appearance of foods;
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personal food likes and dislikes;
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convenience;
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religious and cultural practices and traditions;
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health and medical conditions;
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knowledge about foods and the body’s nutritional requirements,
all are reasons why people eat the foods that they eat.
Your mission :
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Try to answer to the question : What do people's food choice depend on?
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Make a list of all the reasons why people choose the foods they eat.
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Write down as many reasons as you can think of.
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Then group the reasons into the categories on the padlet below.
2- Dietary guidelines
3- Responsible food purchasing
Making good meals begins with good planning and good food shopping. When selecting foods to buy in the food store or market, it is important to keep in mind the need to select a wide variety of foods that will meet the nutritional needs of all members of the family.
The food label on packaged foods can be a useful source of information for food selection and buying. Most countries have laws regulating the information that must be provided on the label of a packaged or processed food. This information might include the name of the food, the amount of food in the package, an ingredient list, and some identifying information on the processing date, expiry date or “best by” date, batch numbers and location of the manufacturer. Additional information may include serving size, number of servings in the package and nutritional information. Some countries also regulate the nutritional or health claims that are allowed on the packaging. For example, in some countries nutritional claims that the product is “low fat” or “low sodium” must meet approved definitions. Health claims on food labels, such as “lowers cholesterol” or “lowers blood pressure” may also be regulated. Many countries restrict health claims to those that have scientific basis and have been approved by the regulatory agencies. Comparing the nutrient content and serving size of different products, if available, can help in selecting higher quality foods or making choices for special or restricted diets.
Your mission:
List in infographic form of :
- the nutrition or health claims that are allowed on food packaging in your country
- the nutritional classification of the food (if available)
- existing tools to help you choose your food (e.g. mobile application)
1- Food choice context
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No single food contains all of the nutrients we need to be healthy.That is why we need to eat a variety of foods in sufficient amounts. A good diet will include many different foods, preferably consumed over the course of the day, and will be sufficient in quantity and quality to meet an individual’s need for food energy (calories) and other nutrients. Without adequate variety in the diet, it is possible to consume the calories we need or more calories than we need and yet still not meet our body’s needs for all nutrients or for a particular nutrient. We need to choose foods for meals and snacks that are high in nutrients but that meet the body’s need for energy (not too little, not too much). The goal of a good diet is to meet all our energy and other nutrient needs while keeping within our dietary calorie intake needs. Doing so can help lead to normal growth and development in children, better health for people of all ages and decreased risk of a number of chronic diseases that can be major health problems.
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There is no one “ideal” diet that is right for everyone. Nutritional needs are specific to each individual, but everyone needs a diet that is balanced and includes a variety of foods that supply the different kinds and amounts of nutrients they need for good health. Balance and variety in the diet means ensuring that we get enough, but not too much, of the energy and nutrients we need. It also means that we avoid excessive amounts of any one food or any food component (nutrient). With careful food selection, we can obtain all the nutrients we need, while enjoying a variety of foods, and still maintain a healthy body weight.
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Ideally, a balanced meal is achieved at every mealtime or eating occasion. Balance and variety can also be achieved in combination (meals and snacks combined) and over time (different meals in the course of the day or week). For example, a food or nutrient that may be lacking or in excess in one meal can be made up for or balanced in the next meal or snack. Eating more food (calories) than we need one day, or less than we need, can be balanced by how much or how little we eat the following day. In order to maintain balance and variety, we must understand our nutrient needs and which foods provide them and we should keep this in mind when making our food choices.
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A healthy, balanced diet can be based on local eating patterns, using locally available foods and respecting local eating customs. The foods in people’s diets around the world are very different from each other, but all good diets must be composed of a variety of different foods that provide all of the food energy and other nutrients in the amounts needed. For most people, a good meal will be based on a starchy carbohydrate food, sometimes referred to as “staple” foods, as they form the basis or main portion of the meal, and a variety of other foods (side dishes) that provide the additional protein, vitamins and minerals needed for a good, healthy diet.
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To help people choose good diets based on locally available foods, cultural practices and local health concerns, many countries have developed food guides for their populations, called “Food-based dietary guidelines” (FBDG).
Your mission:
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Draw up a pictorial summary of the nutritional recommendations in your country.
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Make a comparison with those of other partner countries.
To go further : The french paradox
The 'French paradox' refers to the very low incidence of and mortality rates from ischaemic heart disease in France despite the fact that saturated fat intakes, serum cholesterol, blood pressure and prevalence of smoking are no lower there than elsewhere.
More information on what a Nutritional Sciences PhD think about the French Paradox
Discuss
What is your opinion about the French Paradox? Can it be related to the Mediterranean diet?
Impact of food on human health
We told students that in the previous section, we looked at the link between nutritional status and the occurrence of disease.
However, other factors besides the nutritional status of our diet can cause undesirable effects on our body or diseases. Indeed, production and breeding methods, species selection and food processing have a significant impact on our health.
The following table shows some examples :
Component
Undesirable effect/disease caused
GMOallergies, cancers
pesticides, antibioticsdestruction of microbiota, endocrine disruptors
plant proteinsinflammatory role of gluten, lectin...
animal proteinscardiovascular diseases, cancers
food additivesautoimmune diseases, cancers
trans fatincreased cardiovascular risk
We will try to clarify this by doing the following work:
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each partner country will develop one of the following themes and compare it to the opposite theme
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organic farming / conventional farming
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flexitarian diet / vegan diet
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ultra-processed food / unprocessed food
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When you have chosen the theme you wish to address, please complete the table and check that this theme is not already being addressed by another partner.
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For each theme, it will be necessary to :
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make a short presentation
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present the positive and negative points on health and the environment
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list the constraints and opportunities of this type of food.
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