Fundamentals of Nutrition Flashcards
What is the definition of Nutrition?
The provision of nourishment to cells, tissues, organs, systems and the body as a whole
What are the domains of Human Nutrition?
Basic Nutrition:
-Molecular, genetic, biochemical, physiological and metabolic mechanisms of action and the roles of the nutrients
Applied Nutrition:
- Relationships between nutrition and health/well-being of the general population
- Healthy eating promotion and prevention of malnutrition and special groups
Clinical Nutrition:
- Studies the relationship between nutrition and disease
- Provision of nutritional support for patients
- Related to acute and chronic disease
Definition of Sports Nutrition?
How food and nutrients influence athletic performance in different sports - use of ergogenic aids
Definition of Exercise Nutrition?
How nutrition modifies the physiological and metabolic responses to exercise in a variety of populations
What are the goals of sports nutrition? 11 points
- Meet the energy and fuel requirements
- Maintain ideal physique
- Adaptation/recovery
- Refuel/rehydrate
- Practise competition strategies
- Optimal health and function
- Reduce risks of sickness/injury
- Make well considered decisions over supplement use
- Eat for long term health
- Enjoy food
What are the core concepts of Nutrition?
1) Nutrient Balance
2) Nutrient Turnover
3) Nutrient Flux
4) Metabolic pools
5) Adaptation to altered nutrient supply
What is Nutrient Balance?
Intake - Output (loss) = Change in Body Stores
If intake is higher, body stores will increase and vice versa the other way around
The body stores can buffer the effect of malnutrition depending on the mobility of the fat store
-Malnutrition can be overnutrition as well as undernutrition
What is Nutrient Turnover?
The continual utilisation of a particular nutrient
- Continual protein store breakdown and synthesis (1/3kg a day) allows rapid adjustments to the protein levels
- If there is a gross misbalance it can lead to loss in muscle protein and muscle mass
What it Nutrient Flux?
A measure of the activity of the pathway
-Not necessarily related to the size of the metabolic pool (glucose has a fast flux but doesn’t have large stores)
What is a metabolic pool?
Where nutrients and metabolites are present in several pools:
Functional pool - Direct involvement in body functions
Storage pool - Provides buffering effect ie can be made available to the functional pool when and as required
Precursor pool - provides the substrate for nutrient/metabolite synthesis
eg. The functional pool for glucose is the blood, and the storage pool is the liver, and the precursor pool are amino acids through gluconeogenesis
What is adaptation to altered nutrient supply?
Minimises the consequences of such alterations
-we are able to last in starvation without complete muscle deterioration
The greater the capacity to respond to adverse nutritional states the greater the capacity to survive those states
