Nutritional Science - Importance of Balanced Diet, Macronutrients, Micronutrients, and Food Safety

This article discusses the importance of nutrition in maintaining a healthy body and mind. It covers topics such as balanced diets, macronutrients, micronutrients, energy balance, weight control, and food safety. It also highlights the impact of nutrition on physical and mental health, and the global issues related to food security.

Running head: NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE
NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE
1. Healthy diets
A healthy body and a health mind is the way to a healthy life. A healthy body can be maintained
only by opting a healthy diet and routined physical activity. A balanced diet is a diet that
contains all the nutrients in proportionate amount. Balanced diet varies as per the age and to
some extent the profession. A body requires both the calorigenic food as well as the protective
foods like vitamins and minerals as per the requirements of the body. The eating habits are also
determined by the clinical condition of a patient such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases,
osteoporosis, obesity and more. Healthy diets include whole grains, high fiber foods. Fruits,
vegetables, lentils, beans, millets, unprocessed maize, brown rice. Intake of fat should be reduced
to prevent unhealthy weight gain. Intake of processed sugars should be avoided, by limiting the
consumption of food and drinks containing sugar (Family doctor.org. 2012) .
2. Macronutrients
Macronutrients are the nutrients that are used in large amounts for maintaining the body
function and the generation of energy. The three main macronutrients are proteins,
carbohydrates and fats. Food and mood has an inseparable connection and depends entirely
on brain health. Refined carbohydrates are found to degrade brain health as they may
interfere with the release of the neurotransmitters. They do not have any nutritional value and
mainly cause the vascular swelling and insulin sensitivity. Complex carbohydrates on the
other hand are found in fruits, vegetables and nuts are responsible for the brain health as it
helps in the secretion of serotonin that helps in keeping the brain healthy. Protein is the body
building nutrient, but it is essential to avoid gluten as it decrease the level of the tryptophan

2NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE
in the brain, thus decreasing the production of the melatonin and serotonin. Quinoas,
amaranth are some gluten free grains. Whole grains are excellent in protecting the brain
health. Nutrients like Vitamins, Omega-3 Fatty acids are effective in maintaining the
cognitive function (Dr. Group's Healthy Living Articles, 2018).
3. Micronutrients
Micronutrients are required in small amount for the growth, development of the body. Most
of the young women suffer from micronutrient deficiencies during the child bearing age.
Micronutrient deficiencies can be because of micronutrients like iron, Vitamin B12,
homocysteine, zinc, selenium, folate and copper. According to studies many women have
been found to be suffering from Hypoferritinaemia and IDA. Serum ferritin has been found
in low concentrations in young women and is related to the risk of AD. The serum zinc
concentration is found to be in consistent concentration those who are omnivorous. As per
the study the amount of micronutrients that have been found in low quantities are Iron,
Vitamin B 12, and suboptimal selenium level (Fayet et al.2013).
4. Energy balance and weight control
The Secret of weight control lies in the consumption of the energy balanced food. Physical
exercises can play and important part of the weight control, but balanced foods such as
complex crabs, lean proteins can help fueling up the body. Energy balance not only helps to
manage weight but also aids to maintain the cholesterol level, lowers blood pressure and
other chronic disease prevention. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low fat dairy and other
unprocessed food should be the food of choice at the grocery store (familydoctor.org).
5. Nutrition and Performance/Health (physical or mental)

3NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE
Proper nutrition is not only necessary for maintaining the physical status but is also required for
the proper functioning of the brain. Researches are going on regarding the development of
nutrition based supplements for addressing the mental health issues. Scientific researchers have
indicated that food plays a crucial role in the management of the mental health problems such as
schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Alzheimer's disease and clinical
expression. Amino acids, vitamin D, iodine, iron, choline, magnesium and omega-3s have been
associated with brain health. Studies have suggested that probiotics can help to reduce the
anxiety level and also helps in the improvement of mood and appetite (www.worldhealth.net).
6. Life cycle nutrition
Different stage of life has got different nutritional needs. Nutritional requirements during
pregnancy are quite crucial as it affects not only the health of the mother but also the fetus. A
pregnant women having poor nutritional status have a greater risk of having pre-term birth. Over
weight mothers on the other hand develop risks of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and
hypertension. Some of the nutrients that are associated with pregnancy and lactation are folic
acids, iron, vitamin D, Calcium, Zinc. Iron supplements and folic acid supplements have been
found to be useful during the second and the third trimesters of pregnancy. Proper dosage of folic
acid supplement mitigates the risk of neural damage and anencephaly in brain. The overall
nutritional requirements during pregnancy should be taken care of. For example excess vitamin
A taken during the early periods of pregnancy might cause brain damage in the fetus (Human
nutrition 2018).
7. Global issues in nutrition

4NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE
Food insecurity is considered as one of the social determinants of health. As per the report by
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), about 925 million of the people
in the whole world are undernourished, with larger percentage living in Asia and the Pacific
Islands. Discussing about food security, it has got three different aspects. First is the availability
of the food, second is the accessibility of the food and finally the food utilization. There are a
number of factors affecting the person's accessibility to food. Lack of job opportunities can be an
important cause of food inaccessibility. Nutritional education is necessary for the appropriate
usage of food. Nutritional education involves the disease prevention and the maintenance of
proper sanitation and hygiene (peacecorps.gov. 2018).
8. Food safety
Food safety is important for the all and can be accomplished by simple steps. Cooking food at
proper temperature is the best way to have safe foods. Microwaves are convenient in reheating,
cooking of defrosting food, but food poisoning can occur if not used properly. It is advisable to
use the containers that are microwave -safe. Plastic containers or the Styrofoam trays may melt
or burn and can release toxic chemicals to the food. Food should be defrosted before cooking
and cooking should be done immediately after defrosting. It is advisable to cook larger pieces of
meat at 50 % of the power for a longer period of time. Leftovers should be heated in temperature
of about 74 degree. It is necessary to observe the standing time for the micro waved food as it
would allow complete cooking and even distribution of heat within the food (www.canada.ca).

5NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE
References
Dr. Group's Healthy Living Articles. (2018). 6 Facts About the Food-Mood Connection. [online]
Available at: https://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/6-facts-food-mood-
connection/ [Accessed 4 Apr. 2018].
Fayet-Moore, F., Petocz, P. and Samman, S., 2014. Micronutrient status in female university
students: iron, zinc, copper, selenium, vitamin B12 and folate. Nutrients, 6(11), pp.5103-5116.
Food safety tips for microwaves. [online] Available at:
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/general-food-safety-tips/microwaves.html.
[Accessed 3 Apr. 2018].
Global Issues: Food Security. [online] Available at:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/educators/resources/global-issues-food-security/
Human nutrition - Nutrition throughout the life cycle. [online] Available at:
https://www.britannica.com/science/human-nutrition/Nutrition-throughout-the-life-cycle.
Nutrition: Tips for Improving Your Health. familydoctor.org. [online] Available at:
https://familydoctor.org/nutrition-tips-for-improving-your-health/ [Accessed 2018].
The Importance of Nutrition in Mental Health. [online] Available at:
https://www.worldhealth.net/news/importance-nutrition-mental-health/
Weight Control Secret: Energy Balance. [online] Available at:
https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/weight-control-secret-energy-balance#1.