1. How are foods classified?
Ans: Food is classified based on their nutritional properties and biological classifications into cereal grains and products, pulses & legumes, Vegetables & fruits, Fats & oils and Milk & meat products. Foods are also classified based on their function in their body into Energy yielding foods, body building foods and protective foods.
2. List the major nutrients present in fruits and vegetables.
Ans: The major nutrients present in fruits and vegetables are:-
- Fibre
- Vitamin C
- Beta carotene
- Iron
- Calcium and
- Variety of phytochemicals
3.What is a nutrient? Name the six classes of nutrients found in foods.
Ans: A nutrient is a chemical substance obtained from food and used in the body to provide energy for growth, maintenance, and repair of the body’s tissues. The six classes of nutrients are –
- Carbohydrates
- Protein
- Fat
- Vitamins
- Minerals
- Water
4.What happens when people get either too little or too much energy or nutrients?
Ans: The nutritional status of an individual is dependent on the amount and quality of food consumed. Improper quantity of food consumption can cause malnutrition. Eating less than the recommended quantities of nutrients can lead to a state of under nutrition.This has negative effects on the body such as reduced energy to work, decreased immunity and susceptibility to infections. Eating in excess than the recommended quantity can cause toxicity of the particular nutrient such as toxicity of fat soluble vitamins and excess energy intake leads to obesity which is a state of excess fat in the body which increases the risk of developing chronic diseases such as Diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
5. Define Balanced diet. How can a balanced diet lead to a healthy life.
Ans: A balanced diet is a combination of foods in quantities that provides all the necessary nutrients in the right proportion as per the requirement of an individual depending on the age, gender, physiological status and physical activity. Consumption of balanced diet can lead to a healthy life by meeting the nutritional needs, leading to the development of maximum cognitive ability, by improving immunity, helping to cop up with stress and by improving longevity.
6.What is BMI? Calculate the BMI for an adult man weighing 60 kgs with a height of 170 cms. Which category of nutritional status does he belong to?
Ans: Body mass index is a measure for identification of nutritional status of an individual based on height and weight. BMI helps to identify both undernutrition and over nutrition. The BMI of the given adult man is - 60/ (1.7*1.7) = 20.76 kg/m2. The adult man belongs to ‘normal’ category.
7.What are the uses of the food group system?
Ans: The food group system is of use for the health professionals as a tool for nutritional assessment and screening of an individual which help in identifying the inadequacies in dietary habits arising from any of the five food groups. The food group system can be used as a part of the nutritional counselling in educating the patient about proper food selection based on the food groups. The food groups can also be used as a part of the nutrition labelling of various food products.
8.Distinguish Recommended Dietary Allowance and Adequate Intake.
Ans: Recommended Dietary Allowance is an estimate of nutrients to be consumed on a daily basis to meet the requirements of all individuals in a given population. RDA is adequate for 9798% of the healthy population and can be framed when there is sufficient data on a given population where as adequate intake is the average amount of a nutrient consumed by healthy people framed when there is insufficient data to estimate the average requirement of the given population.
9.What types of nutritional imbalances can occur in an individual?
Ans: The two types of nutritional imbalance that can occur in an individual are General and Specific imbalance.General imbalance refers to malnutrition arising due to excessive or deficient amount of one or more foods. Examples include Obesity, Protein energy malnutrition etc. Specific imbalance refers to the excess or deficiency of a single nutrient arising due to faulty food habits or due to an underlying illness. Examples include iron deficiency anemia, rickets etc
