Public health week 4

Question 1

Factors contributing to obesity/excessive food intake

Answer 1

Genetics, employment (shift work), early developmental factors, Media, energy-dense food, reduced physical activity, environmental cues, psychological factors

Question 2

Malnutrition

a) Define
b) Give the 2 types

Answer 2

a) “Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients
b) Undernutrition, overnutrition

Question 3

Undernutrition

a) 3 things it can cause biologically
b) 4 diseases resulting in undernutrition and requiring nutritional support

Answer 3

a) Stunting (low height for age), wasting (low weight for height), underweight (low weight for age) and micronutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies (a lack of important vitamins and minerals).
b) Cancer • Cystic Fibrosis • Coeliac disease • Inflammatory bowel diseases • Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Question 4

Overnutrition

a) Give the classes of overnutrition in terms of BMI
b) 4 diseases it contributes to
c) Diseases of overnutrition requiring nutritional support

Answer 4

a) 25-29.9 (overweight), 30-34.9 (obese), 35-35.9 (severely obese), 40+ (morbidly obese)
b) heart disease, stroke, HTN, diabetes and cancer
c) Obesity, T2DM, CVD,

Question 5

Give 3 ways in which a mother can influence the diet of her offspring

Answer 5

Prenatal - Amniotic fluid, foetal taste development
Breastfeeding
Cooking, shopping, offering a wide variety of healthy food to children

Question 6

Breastmilk.

a) Colostrum - colour? Higher in…? Lower in…?
b) Foremilk vs Hindmilk
c) What antibodies are found in breastmilk?
d) What other non-food related components are found in breastmilk?

Answer 6

a) Yellow; higher in antibodies and protein, lower in fat
b) Foremilk beginning of a feed (watery); Hindmilk end of a feed (> energy dense)
c) IgA
d) Digestive enzymes, Lactoferrin, Anti-inflammatory factors

Question 7

Eating disorders.

a) 3 distinct disorders
b) Other disorders are under the umbrella of…?
c) Define eating disorder
d) Define ‘disordered eating’ (e.g. EB.)

Answer 7

a) Binge eating, bulimia, anorexia
b) OSFED – Other specified feeding or eating disorder
c) “behavioural or psychological pattern having to do with eating or weight that is associated with distress, disability, morbidity or mortality”
d) restraint; strict dieting; disinhibition; emotional eating; binge-eating; night eating; weight & shape concerns; inappropriate compensatory behaviours that do not
warrant a clinical diagnosis

Question 8

Dieting.

a) Name 3 popular diets
b) 4 problems with dieting
c) Dieting tends to result in what 3 stages of weight change?
d) Why dieting often doesn’t work (in terms of cues)
e) What is a cognitive diet boundary and what happens when dieters exceed this?

Answer 8

a) Atkins, ketogenic, 5:2 diet,
b) Risk of developing eating disorders (bulimia, anorexia), results in a loss of lean body mass, slows metabolic rate and energy expenditure, disrupt ‘normal’ appetite responses and increases hunger
c) weight loss, plateau then weight regain (often overshooting)
d) unresponsive to internal cues that signal
satiety (when overconsuming) and hunger
(when dieting), vulnerable to external cues that signal
availability of palatable food
e) A self-imposed, desired intake of food (what they think they should eat and how much). When they exceed this, they keep eating until satiety (which is higher level than normal eater due to lack of food intake)

Question 9

Satiety and hunger

a) How do these keep food intake in check (in normal eaters)?
b) What disinhibitors lead to excess food intake in dieters?

Answer 9

a) Food consumption is regulated by biological processes to keep food intake within a set range:
• Hunger keeps intake of food above a specific minimum level
• Satiety (feeling of satisfaction/fullness) keeps intake of food below a specific maximum level
b) High energy preloads or merely belief of high energy preload, Alcohol, Cognitive load: Stress, Strong emotion

Question 10

Why are some dieters successful?

Answer 10

More “flexible” rather than “rigid” in their dietary
restraint.
Results in reduced preoccupation with food, reduced attentional bias to food cues, longer-term weight loss

Question 11

Breastfeeding: benefits for mother

Answer 11

Reduces cancer risk for:
breast, uterine, ovarian, endometrial

Reduces risk of:

• Post partum haemorrhage,
• postnatal depression,
• Osteoporosis later in life

Also:

• cheaper
• attachment with baby

Question 12

Breastfeeding: infant benefits

Answer 12

Less Infection
Less immune driven/allergic disease (e.g. eczema, asthma)
Reduced risk of NEC
Reduced SIDS
Reduced Gastroesophageal Reflux
Better Cognitive Development