1. The Science of Nutrition
Chapter 1

2. Introduction
• Quality of life
• Foods we choose to eat
• Immediate health
• Risk of disease
• Science
• Hope and controversy
• Nutrition and human health
• Deficiencies and abundance

3. What Do We Mean by
“Nutrition”?
• Nutrition
• Variety of scientific disciplines
• Nutritional scientists
• Dietitians
• RD credential
• Nutritional sciences

4. What Do We Mean by
“Nutrition”?
• Nutrients
• Evolving definition
• Six categories
• Macronutrients
• Micronutrients
• Essential nutrients
• Nonessential nutrients
• Conditionally essential nutrients

5. Micronutrients vs.
Macronutrients

6. What Do We Mean by
“Nutrition”?
• Nutrients
• Organic compounds
• Inorganic compounds
• “Certified Organic”
foods
• National Organic
Standards Board
(NOSB)
• Reading labels

7. What Do We Mean by
“Nutrition”?
• Phytochemicals
• Health-promoting substances found in plants
• Zoonutrients
• Health-promoting substances found in animal
foods
• Functional foods
• Enhanced amounts of traditional nutrients
• Phytochemicals
• Zoonutrients

8. What Are the Major Nutrient
Classes?
• Carbohydrates
• Elements
• Types
• Glucose
• Primary source of energy
• Roles

9. What Are the Major Nutrient
Classes?
• Proteins
• Sources
• Elements
• Roles
• Lipids
• Sources
• Types
• Elements
• Roles

10. What Are the Major Nutrient
Classes?
• Water
• Roles
• Vitamins
• Elements
• Roles
• Types
• Minerals
• Roles

11. How Do Foods Provide Energy?
• Energy
• Capacity of a physical system to do work
• Energy-yielding nutrients
• Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
• Energy measurement
• Calorie
• Bomb calorimeter

12. Bomb Calorimeter

13. How Do Foods Provide Energy?
• Estimating food calories
• Carbohydrates and proteins – 4 kcal/gram
• Lipids – 9 kcal/gram
• Alcohol – 7 kcal/gram
• Percentage of energy from energy-yielding
nutrients
• Recommendations

14. How Is Nutrition Research
Conducted?
• Scientific method
• Step 1: making an observation
• Appropriate and accurate observation
• Step 2: proposing a hypothesis
• Two types of hypotheses
• Simple vs. complex relationships
– Interactions

15. Simple Relationships vs.
Complex Relationships

16. How Is Nutrition Research
Conducted?
• Scientific method
• Step 3: testing the hypothesis
• Epidemiological studies
– Correlational relationships only
– Framingham Heart Study
– NHANES
– Advantages and limitations

17. • Scientific method
• Step 3: testing the hypothesis
• Intervention studies
– Test for causality
– Control group
– Types of biases
– Controlling for biases
– Advantages and limitations of human studies
– Animal and cell culture studies

18. The Ideal Nutrition Intervention
Study

19. Are All Nutrition Claims
Believable?
• Determine the source of the information
• Primary sources
• Reputable publications
• Credibility of the researchers
• Qualified and knowledgeable
• Who paid for the research?
• Evaluate the experimental design
• Do public health organizations concur?

20. Some Reliable Source of
Nutrition Information

21. Nutrition and Health: What Is the
Connection?
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC)
• Use of rates
• Mortality rate
• Infant mortality rate
• Morbidity rates
• Incidence and prevalence
• Life expectancy
• Graying of America

22. Changes in Life Expectancy and
IMR Since 1900

23. Nutrition and Health: What Is the
Connection?
• Disease
• Infectious
• Noninfectious
• Autoimmune diseases
• Chronic degenerative diseases
• Disease etiology
• Leading causes of death
• Risk factors
• Nutrition transition

24. Five Leading Causes of Death in
1902, 1950, and 2007