nutrition for all age groups

1. Objectives
• Understand the importance of nutrition for health.
• Understand the importance of nutrition for vulnerable gps.
like children, adolescents, pregnant & lactating mother.
• Understand the importance of balance diet.
• To know various National Nutritional Programmes.

2. Nutrition
 Nutrition : is the science of food & its relationship
 to health.
 Good nutrition is a basic component of health.
 Relation of nutrition may be seen in:
 Growth & development
 Specific deficiency
 Resistance to infection
 Morbidity & mortality

3. Dietary Goal
1. Maintain a state of positive health & optimum
performance in the population at large.
2. Ensure adequate nutritional status for pregnant
& lactating mothers.
3. Improve birth weight & promote growth of
infants, children & adolescents to achieve their
full genetic potential.
4. Achieve adequacy in all nutrient & prevent
deficiency diseases.
5. Prevent chronic diet related disorders.
6. Maintain the health of the elderly & increase
the life expectancy.

4. Additional food & extra care are
required during the pregnancy &
lactation.
 Pregnancy is physiologically & nutritionally a high demanding
period. Extra food is required to satisfy the needs of the fetus.
 Women should take extra nutrition during the pregnancy to meet
the nutritional demand.
 A lactating mother requires extra food to secrete adequate quantity
of milk & to protect her health.
 Eat more whole grains, sprouted grams & fermented foods.
 Take milk/eggs/meat.
 Eat plenty of vegetables & fruits.
 Avoid superstitions taboos.

5. Continue..
 Do not use alcohol & tobacco, take medicine
only when prescribed.
 Take iron, folate & calcium supplement regularly,
after 14-16 weeks of pregnancy & continue the
same during lactation.

6. Infants
 Food supplements should be introduced to the infants by
6 months onwards along with breast feeding.
 Breast milk alone is not adequate for the infants beyond 6
months.
 Provision of adequate & appropriate supplement to young
children prevents malnutrition.
 Hygienic practices should be observed while preparing &
feeding the weaning food to the child otherwise it would
lead to diarrhea.
 Feed low cost home made weaning foods.
 Feed supplements 5-6 times a day.
 Provide fruits & well cooked vegetables.

7. If breast milk is not adequate:
 Infants need to be fed animal milk or infant milk
formula.
 Milk should be boiled before being fed to the
baby.
 To start with, milk may be diluted with an equal
volume of water.
 Infants fed animal milk should receive
supplements of iron & vit.C.
 About 120-180ml of milk should be fed with one
tsp of sugar per feed.

8. Continue..
 The feed should be prepared & given using a
sterile cup, spoon, bottles & nipples.
 Over feeding should be avoided in artificially fed
infants to prevent obesity.

9. Adolescents (12-19yrs.)
 Appropriate diet during childhood may reduce the
risk of diet related chronic diseases in later life.
 Common infections & malnutrition contribute
significantly to child morbidity & mortality.
 A child needs to eat more during & after the
episodes of infections to maintain good nutritional
status.
 Give plenty of milk & milk products to the
children & adolescents.
 Discourage overeating as well as discrimination.

10. Eat calcium rich foods:
 Calcium is needed for growth & bone
development.
 Calcium prevents osteoporosis. (thining of bones)
 Osteoporosis is more common in women.
 Pregnant, lactating women, children & elderly
requires more calcium.
 Milk, curd, nuts are rich sources of bioavailable
calcium.
 Ragi & green leafy vegetables also provide calcuim.
 Exercise reduces calcium loss from the bones.

11. Diet for the elderly people:
 The elderly have a reduced need of calories.
 Elderly are more prone to diseases due to lowered
food intake, physical activity & resistance to
infection.
 Good food habits & regular exercise minimize the
ill effects of aging.
 The elderly need more calcium, iron, zinc, vit.A &
antioxidants to prevent age related diseases.

12. Iron rich food:
 Iron is needed for hemoglobin synthesis, mental
function & body defense.
 Def. of iron lead to iron deficiency anaemia.
 Iron deficiency is common in reproductive age
& in children.
 Iron deficiency during pregnancy increases
maternal mortality & low birth weigh in infants.
 In children it increases susceptibility to infection
& impairs learning ability.

13. Continue..
 Legumes dry fruits & green leafy vegetables
contains iron.
 Iron is also obtained from poultry products.
 Iron bioavailability is poor from plant foods but is
good from animal foods.
 Fruits rich in vit.C like amla, gauva & citrus fruits
improve iron absorption from plant foods.
 Beverages like tea bind dietary iron & make it
unavailable hence they should be avoided before,
during & soon after meal.

14. Folate rich food.
 Folic acid is essential for the synthesis of
hemoglobin.
 Folic acid deficiency leads to microcytic anaemia.