Nutrition, Exercise and Health - Can you Outrun a Bad Diet? (Week 3)

Question 1

state what it is meant by the key term - ‘hard outcome’

Answer 1

a clearly definable and measurable outcome

Question 2

why do we know little about the effect of diets on hard outcomes ?

(3 points_

Answer 2

we need to randomise people to different diets and watch the effects over a 10+ year period

very difficult to ask people to agree to this

we can use observational elements (e.g. - ask people about their diets over last 10 years) - cannot infer causality (e.g. - healthy people are more likely to not smoke and be more active)

Question 3

state what it is meant by the key term - metabolic health

Answer 3

metabolic health is the ability to maintain metabolic control with the absence of metabolic disease

Question 4

explain the relationship between metabolic health and homeostasis

Answer 4

eating food poses a threat to homeostasis - ingesting a lot of food needs to be managed by the body - enters the blood stream and must be buffered by the body - having better metabolic control means that you are better able to buffer and there is less of a perturbation in metabolism

Question 5

state what it is meant by the key term - glycemic index

Answer 5

GI is a figure representing the relative ability of a carbohydrate food to increase the levels of glucose in the blood

Question 6

explain 4 factors that change a foods GI

Answer 6

1) grinding - larger SA - higher GI (e.g. - jumbo oats)
2) cell wall - relates to degree of ripening - green banana has lower GI than brown one
3) freezing bread and then defrosting it before eating influences starch structure giving it a lower GI
4) tasting gives a lower GI response