Comprehensive Analysis of Unit 1: Essentials of a Diet

This assignment delves into the fundamental aspects of a healthy diet. It begins by differentiating between nutritionists, dieticians, and nutritional therapists, clarifying their roles and qualifications. The assignment explores the concept of essential nutrients, explaining their importance and the sources from which they are derived. It then examines macronutrients like proteins and carbohydrates, discussing the sources of proteins, the concept of limiting amino acids, and mutual supplementation. Furthermore, it defines key terms related to fats and carbohydrates, including fatty acids, eicosanoids, and the differences between sugars and starches. The assignment also analyzes the role of carbohydrates in reducing fat intake and clarifies the meaning of 'organic' and 'inorganic' compounds in the context of nutrition. It concludes with an overview of the Eatwell Plate and its changes, as well as a comparison with the dietary guidelines used in the United States, providing a comprehensive understanding of essential dietary components.

Unit 1 – Essentials of a Diet

1. Can you succinctly state what the difference is between a nutritionist, a dietician and a
nutritional therapist?
Nutritionist: These are qualified to provide appropriate information regarding the advice
and information about the healthy eating and food but do not consider specific medical
conditions.
Dietician: These are the health professional who are protected and regulated by law. This
means that they need to be registered with the professional bodies and also must adhere
to the standards.
Nutritional Therapist: These are trained to assess the symptoms of individual and
reviewing their diet for ensuring that proper amount of minerals and vitamins are in their
body and helps in supporting the problem if any (Colleville and et.al., 2018).
2. Can you think of other reasons?
Growth of essential nutrients which heals when injured provides basic nutrients which
provide energy for metabolism and properly functioning of body functions. It also helps
in maintaining strength and fitness and also promotes healthy immune system which can
help in fighting with severity in case of getting infection etc.
3. Try and find sources (books, articles) which define ‘essential’ in the nutritional context.
Essential includes the nutrients which can’t be made by the body in sufficient quantity.
These must come from food as these are important for disease prevention, good health
and proper growth of body.
4. Which of these are essential?
All are essential.
5. In some sources, alcohol is referred to as a macronutrient. In other sources, they state that
alcohol is not a nutrient and is considered both a drug and a toxin. Do some research –
what do you find?
Alcohol is not considered to be any type of nutrient because if it is not included in the
diet then this cannot lead to any sort of deficiency (Schlenker and Gilbert, 2018). The
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drinks of alcohol normally consist of alcohol (ethanol), water and sugar in different
amounts. These do not deliver any nutritional benefit.
6. When we think about proteins we often think of animal products. Are proteins found in
plant sources? Do some research regarding this? Briefly summarise what you found?
Plant sources contain less amount of protein as compared to animal sources. Some plant
proteins are also incomplete which means that they lack some type of amino acids. But
quinoa and buckwheat are two plant sources which are complete sources of protein
(Harter, 2021).
7. What other sources confirm this list? Make a list of at least 5 different sources. Do any
sources state anything different? If so, what is different?
The mentioned amino acids are essential and the other non-essential amino acids include
arginine, asparagine, alanine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, glutamine, cysteine,
proline, tyrosine and serine. This means the bodies produce them if they are not obtained
from food.
8. Briefly explain why inadequate energy consumption limits protein synthesis? Use reliable
sources to strengthen your answer.
This is because of energy and nitrogen balance. During the process of caloric restriction,
there is an increase in the availability of amino acids due to the protein breakdown which
are then oxidized as energy and also limits the amino acid availability for synthesising
protein (Rivaroli and et.al., 2017).
9. Find and list a few examples of foods with limiting amino acids.
Food Limited amino acid Complement
Vegetables Methionine Nuts, grains and seeds
Corn Lysine, Tryptophan Legumes
Beans Methionie Nuts, seeds and grains
Nuts/ seeds Lysine Legumes
Grains Threonine, lysine Legumes
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10. With respect to proteins - note down what the following terms refer to: ‘mutual
supplementation’ ‘complementary proteins’.
Mutual supplementation happens at the time when two incomplete proteins are combined
for forming a complete protein.
Complementary proteins: This is formed by combining two incomplete protein which
means that this is the result obtained from the process of mutual supplementation.
11. Find out and note down what linoleic acid and linolenic acid are also known as.
These are also known as fatty acids. Alpha linolenic acid also known as omega- fatty acid
and linoleic acid is also known as an omega-6 fatty acid (Anderson, Lewandowski and
Dennis, 2018).
12. What are eicosanoids, prostacyclins, leukotrienes, thromboxanes and prostaglandins?
Eicosanoids are basically signalling molecules which are made continuously in the
plasma membrane of all the tissues of mammals.
Prostacyclin is considered as prostaglandin member of eicosanoid family of lipid
molecules. This helps in preventing formation of platelet plug by platelet activation
during hemostasis.
Leukotrienes are majorly responsible for bronchoconstriction which is why they trigger
acute asthma attacks and also cause hypersensitivity in airways.
Thromboxanes are made by platelets which cause blood clotting and by constricting of
blood vessels.
Prostaglandins are group of lipids which are created at the tissue damage or infection site
which causes injury and illness (Patience, 2020).
13. Complete this table.
Type of CHO Description Foods
Sugars Monosaccharide (one unit of
sugar) e.g. fructose (fruit sugar),
glucose (table sugar)
Fruits, vegetables, whole
grains, honey, yoghurt,
barbecue sauce, ketchup,
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fruit juice, sports drink,
chocolate milk etc.
Starches It is a carbohydrate and also
source of food energy for
humans.
Rice, potatoes, bread,
couscous, pasta, oats,
cereals, barley etc.
Non-starch
polysaccharides (NSPs)
These are the key part of dietary
fibre and are the polysaccharides
except starches (Souza, 2019).
Nuts, fruits and vegetables,
legumes etc.
14. Research how CHO in diet can reduce fat intake.
Diets with low carb can reduce the blood levels of insulin. The insulin stores the fat. This
is why the low carb diets reduce the level of the hormone insulin which led to reduced fat
intake.
15. What is meant by ‘organic’ when we state ‘organic compounds’?
These are the chemical compounds in which the carbon atoms are covalently linked to the
other elements atoms such as oxygen, hydrogen or nitrogen.
16. What is meant by ‘inorganic’ when we state ‘inorganic elements’?
These are the substances in which chemical elements are combines in definite
proportions. The carbon atoms are not combined with hydrogen in this case.
17. Has “the eatwell plate” changed? Find out and briefly explain.
This deals in eating of more vegetables, fruits and carbohydrates. The section which
contains fruits and vegetables increased 39% and the section of starchy carbohydrates
increased to 37% as both were 33%. This helps in meeting the increased fibre
recommendation needed 30 g a day (Sawicki, 2018).
18. In the United States do they use the same model? If not, find out the equivalent and
briefly explain their concept.
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US follows eatwell guide instead of eatwell plate as this explains the amount which come
from each food for achieving balanced and healthy diet.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Anderson, K.M., Lewandowski, A. and Dennis, P.M., 2018. Suspected hypervitaminosis d in
red-rumped agouti (dasyprocta leporina) receiving a commercial rodent diet. Journal of
Zoo and Wildlife Medicine. 49(1). pp.196-200.
Colleville, B. and et.al., 2018. Effect of a high fat diet and vitamin D3 supplementation in the
aortic valvulopathy EgfrWa2/Wa2 murin model. Archives of Cardiovascular Diseases
Supplements. 10(2). p.216.
Harter, C., 2021. Gluten in the Diet. In Gluten Sensitivity (pp. 35-40). Springer, Wiesbaden.
Patience, S., 2020. Supporting adherence to the UK's Eatwell Guide in the general
public. Independent Nurse. 2020(7). pp.13-15.
Rivaroli, D.C. and et.al., 2017. Essential oils in the diet of crossbred (½ Angus vs. ½ Nellore)
bulls finished in feedlot on animal performance, feed efficiency and carcass
characteristics. Journal of Agricultural Science. 9(10). pp.205-212.
Sawicki, P., 2018. The preliminary analysis of protein catabolism and...
Schlenker, E. and Gilbert, J.A., 2018. Williams' Essentials of Nutrition and Diet Therapy-E-
Book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Souza, G.S., 2019. Concepts in exercise dynamics for fitness and health essentials. Int. J.
Physiol. Nutr. Phys. Educ. 4. pp.62-67.
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