HSN101 Trimester 2 Assignment: Food, Nutrition, and Growth Analysis

This assignment, completed for the Foundation of Food, Nutrition and Growth (HSN101) course, addresses questions related to personal food choices, dietary habits, and the impact of various factors on health. The student analyzes their own cooking practices, preferences for vegetables and vegan inclined diets, and the influence of external factors on their eating habits. The assignment also explores the Australian dietary guidelines, specifically vegetable consumption, and the impact of sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) on public health. The student provides a detailed analysis of their food frequency questionnaire, assesses the benefits of taxation on SSBs, and discusses improvements in population health related to reduced SSB intake. References in Vancouver style are provided to support the student's arguments. The assignment highlights the importance of balanced diets, ethical considerations, and the role of healthy habits in overall well-being.

Running Head: Foundation of Food, Nutrition And Growth (HSN101)
Foundation of Food, Nutrition and Growth
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

1Foundation of Food, Nutrition and Growth (HSN101)
Answers to Food and Diet Questionnaire
1. a) I prefer cooking my own meal as it gives the freedom to plan my own diet. Since I
prefer vegetables, this helps in involving more vegetables in my diet. It helps me to
check my portion size as well which ensures less of sugar and salt consumption and
include more of vegetables in my diet. Studies reveal that cooking one’s own
promotes less consumption of sugar and other processed food which leads to a happy
healthy life. It also plays a positive impacts on mental health and boosts the energy
levels [1]. Excessive salt consumption can cause risk of hypertension and high blood
pressure.
b) I usually do not prefer others cooking for me. But sometimes my aunt cooks for
me. The food I get does not have much of vegetables and is majorly protein rich.
Hence the meal is not portion controlled. Sometimes it contains ingredients that I am
allergic to, like shrimp.
2. The present lifestyle worldwide promotes the sedentary life that have a negative
impact on the health of an individual. I try my best to maintain some of the healthy
habits to stay health even in my busy schedule. Two of my activities which can be
considered healthy is minimal or no sugar sweetened beverages and a regular routine
of physical exercise.
Reducing the sugar sweetened beverages intake prevents a lot of health risk like
obesity and dental caries [2]. Dental caries is caused because sugar often depletes the
enamel present on the surface of the tooth. The citric acid and phosphoric acid causes
demineralisation and chelation of enamel. It makes the environment suitable for
growth of Staphylococcus sp. and promotes onset of plaque.

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A regular physical activity is also required to prevent deposition of body fat and
promoting obesity. We can be at risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases also.
Physical exercise helps in maintaining the body-mass-index (BMI).
3. I prefer to shop more of vegetables and whole grain and less of heavy proteins and fat
rich food due to the fact that I prefer more of vegetable and lean meat in comparison
to heavy meat. I completed avoid sugar sweetened beverages and preserved food. This
practice helps me to maintain a balanced diet, it is economic as well and ethical.
There are several factors that impact this practice of healthy shopping and eating.
Maintaining a balanced diet is beneficial as it helps in controlling the body weight. It
has a positive impact on my mental health as well since it raises the serotonin and
endorphin level. A health diet prevents diseases like diabetes, metabolic syndrome,
arthritis and even cancer. A diet full of vegetables and lean meat is much cheaper and
affordable compared to packaged food and beverages. Avoiding sugar sweetened
beverages also saves money, prevents the tendency of gaining weight and getting
obese, protects the teeth from acid attack due to sugar consumption and therefore
prevents dental caries and plaques.
4. The Food Frequency Questionnaire was indeed a good indication of my food
consumption in the past month. It shows in the questionnaire that I avoid sugar
sweetened beverages. It is also evident that I prefer lean meat compared to other
heavy meat and like a diet full of vegetables and whole grains. The assessment
performed for my last month food consumption helped me to analyse the diet I am
consuming whether it is good for my health or not. My low-fat diet and a vegan
inclined diet indicate that it provides the required nourishment for my body. The
avoidance of packaged food and sugar sweetened beverages prevent me from getting
overweight, helps me maintain a healthy oral environment and the normal oral flora.

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An assessment signifying my exercise and healthy diet promotes good mental health
that prevents me from depression, anxiety and social isolation.
5. A) The rating of my vegetable consumption per day as per the Food Frequency
Questionnaire is 5.2. This rating adheres to the Australian dietary guideline which
suggests that a women between 19-50 years of age should intake 5 serves of
vegetables and legumes per day [3]. Hence, it can be inferred that I have more serves
of vegetables and legumes per day in comparison to the Australian Dietary
Guidelines, 2013.
B) I consume more of vegetable serves as per the Australian Dietary Guidelines
because I prefer staying inclined to the vegan diet and whole grains. My early
morning smoothie involves blueberry zucchini which is one of my favourites. I often
binge on wraps made of lettuce leaves and a lean meat filling. At dinner I prefer
vegetable based soups since it is easily digested. The water balance with my vegetable
intake ensures balance to avoid constipation and it provides enough roughage helping
my digestive system to work efficiently. It also supplements vitamins and keep my
weight on check.
6. Application of a liking score is indeed difficult. Since I am inclined to vegan diet a
single vegetable might be uninteresting to binge on in a single serve. For example,
liking zucchini is difficult because of the bland taste but it becomes exciting for my
taste buds when a smoothie is made out of blueberry and zucchini. Secondly, this will
not promote a healthy diet. For instance if I love fruits and do not eat vegetables or
whole grain then my body will not get a balanced diet and it may lead to unhealthy
food habits. Also the fact that if somebody prefers a high protein diet which involves
beef steak only might pertain to ethical issues and consuming too much red meat can
cause high blood pressure and hypertension.

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7. I prefer a lot of vegetables and I frequently binge on zucchini and lettuce delicacies
and my dinner mostly adheres to vegetable soups. So I have selected zucchini and
lettuce leaves over others. I snack on lettuce leaves every alternate days. Apart from
liking, healthy food intake and ethical issues also play a role in selecting my food. My
choice of food is already mentioned in the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). I
love to binge on egg at times not very frequent because of ethical concerns. But I
selected my preference accordingly in FFQ even though I do not have it regularly. It
can be inferred from this that my liking does impact the choice of my food but other
factors like ethical issues, balanced diet also plays a significant part.
8. a) Taxation on Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSB) has proved to be a crucial
intervention in sugar consumption. This is a multi-sectorial policy was an approach to
resolve the unhealthy diets that lead to obesity in Australia and impacted other nations
as well. A 20% tax on SSB is capable of reducing the burden of disease caused by
consuming sugary drinks and the linked health care expenses. The cohorts of the
study regarding this reduction in consumption were adults aged above 20 years [4].
The Denmark jurisdiction first implemented taxation on SSBs in the year 1930. The
positive impact of this intervention was that there was an observed reduction in
consumption of SSBs in the low income families. Reduction in the consumption
restricted the onset of obesity and consecutive risks of diabetes [5]. The limitation is
that it did not have much impact on the rich community.
b) The three improvements observed in population health on reduced intake of sugar
sweetened beverages-
 It is observed that on reducing the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages
reduces the risk of obesity. Obesity is a critical health concern worldwide.
Economic policies like promoting taxation on the sugar sweetened beverages

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will help the population to imbibe healthy eating habits and a shift in the BMI
[6].
 Reduction in SSB also helps in reducing the probability of the onset of
diabetes type II. This is also a disease that affects population worldwide.
Diabetic patients are under potential risk of cardiovascular disease [7]. Hence,
healthy food habit reduces the chance of the disease.
 Reduction in the SSB intake also helps adolescent population maintain a
healthy oral micro flora prevent the teeth from acid attack and subsequent
dental caries and plaques [8].
c) The screenshot for the relevant search is given below:

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References
1. Hartmann C, Dohle S, Siegrist M. Importance of cooking skills for balanced food
choices. Appetite. 2013 Jun 1;65:125-31.
2. Anekwe TD, Rahkovsky I. Economic costs and benefits of healthy eating. Current
Obesity Reports. 2013 Sep 1;2(3):225-34.
3. Tapsell LC, Neale EP, Satija A, Hu FB. Foods, nutrients, and dietary patterns:
interconnections and implications for dietary guidelines. Advances in Nutrition. 2016
May 9;7(3):445-54.
4. Falbe J, Thompson HR, Becker CM, Rojas N, McCulloch CE, Madsen KA. Impact of
the Berkeley excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. American journal
of public health. 2016 Oct;106(10):1865-71.
5. Veerman JL, Sacks G, Antonopoulos N, Martin J. The impact of a tax on sugar-
sweetened beverages on health and health care costs: a modelling study. PloS one.
2016 Apr 13;11(4):e0151460.
6. Buhler S, Raine KD, Arango M, Pellerin S, Neary NE. Building a strategy for obesity
prevention one piece at a time: the case of sugar-sweetened beverage taxation.
Canadian journal of diabetes. 2013 Apr 1;37(2):97-102.
7. Blakely T, Wilson N, Kaye-Blake B. Taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages to curb
future obesity and diabetes epidemics. PLoS medicine. 2014 Jan 7;11(1):e1001583.
8. López-Gómez SA, Villalobos-Rodelo JJ, Ávila-Burgos L, Casanova-Rosado JF,
Vallejos-Sánchez AA, Lucas-Rincón SE, Patiño-Marín N, Medina-Solís CE.
Relationship between premature loss of primary teeth with oral hygiene, consumption
of soft drinks, dental care, and previous caries experience. Scientific reports. 2016 Feb
26;6:21147.

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