BIOL 135: Biology of Human Nutrition Course Content Section I

I. The Science of Human Nutrition

A. DefinitionsNutrition - The process of taking in food and using it for growth, metabolism, and repair. Nutritional stages are ingestion, digestion, absorption, transport, assimilation, and excretion. From Latin nutrire (nūtrītiōn-,stem of nūtrītiō); a feeding, to nourish.

What is the Science of Nutrition?The science of nutrition is the study of food and the nutrients we need to sustain life and reproduce. It examines the way food nourishes the body and affects health. Nutrients are essential compounds in food. Cells in the body require nutrients from food to provide the building blocks to maintain, repair and replace them, as well as the energy to perform bodily functions. There are six categories of nutrients found in foods and in the body: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water. Foods also often contain non-nutrient compounds, such as phytochemicals or zoochemicals, non-digestible fiber, and other man-made additives.

Figure 1. The cell is the unit of life. We must provide adequate nutrients for each cell to ensure they can grow, maintain and repair themselves. There are approximately 60 trillion cells in the human body, with about 200 different types of cells, each one having a variation of different functions, structures and needs. However, all require a healthy, non-toxic environment in order to survive and thrive.

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What is Your View of Nutrition?The word nutrition first appeared in 1551 and comes from the Latin word nutrire, meaning “to nourish.” Without adequate nutrition the human body does not function optimally, and severe nutritional inadequacy can lead to disease and even death. The typical American diet is lacking in many ways; from low food quality and not containing adequate amounts of essential nutrients, to being consumed too quickly, or being a habit that is rarely questioned, other than to lose or gain weight. Dietitians are nutrition professionals - but you do not have to be an expert at anything to know that butter is good for you and margarine is not! There should not be any phony debate about this issue - if you know the facts. I did some research and found out how margarine is made, it is comical and shocking! I’ve written a quick comparison between how to make margarine and how to make butter that is worth reading. Once you do know the facts, it will be very difficult for you to argue the health merits of margarine with a straight face. In addition, once you understand the scientific fact that the saturated fats found naturally in butter and coconut oil, for example, are amazingly compatible with and beneficial to the human body, you might be surprised to see how this is in steep contrast to popular myth. When you discover this and understand it, then you will begin to see the deep sophistication of the deception.

Not only have most people been convinced that something good for them is bad (e.g. butter) but in its place a literally toxic substitute has been presented as a ‘heart healthy substitute - one which contains deleterious trans fats, which are very different from saturated fats.

The subject of nutrition is replete with myths.

Compare red meat to soy products (another paper worth reading). Again the deception is comprehensive. Practically every text book and ‘heart healthy’ website I have come across will remind the reader that red meat causes cancer and that soy is a health food. Both are ridiculous statements, once you become informed you will recognize that.

As you become informed it means you can protect yourself from the damage these fraudulent statements intend to do you. If you burn your steak it will contain acrylamides in the charred portions – yes, this is a known carcinogen, so don’t eat burnt meat. And don’t eat a sick animal that has been poorly treated and injected with a host of harmful hormones and antibiotics. With regard to soy being promoted as a ‘healthy alternative to meat’, you might want to examine the facts. Fermented soy like tempeh, miso and nato are OK. However, the rest (e.g. tofu and textured protein, etc.) are all non-fermented soy and should not be regularly consumed by anyone. Non-fermented soy products contain: Phytates (which inhibits mineral uptake in gut); hematogluttins (causes blood to clot); goitrogens (cause dangerous enlargement of thyroid gland); trypsin inhibitors (prevents protein digestion in the stomach); and phytoestrogens (which strongly mimic estrogen receptors in the body and can lead to cancer).

As you become more aware you can start to make safe assumptions, for example, that an organic avocado is good for you and that low fat Kraft cheese spread is not – no matter what is listed on the ‘nutritional label’ and no matter what nonsense some “Kellogg’s Institute” Graduate of Health and Nutrition wants to regurgitate for you. So rather than wait for a ‘Nutrition Professional’ who is an expert tell you what is and is not good for you (like the ones who advocate for low fat butter substitutes), find out this information for yourself! It is all out there, hidden in plain sight.

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Today, Nutrition is defined as the sum of all processes involved in how organisms obtain nutrients, metabolize them, and use them to support all of life’s processes. In terms of the science, Nutritional Science is the investigation of how an organism is nourished, and incorporates the study of how nourishment affects personal health, population health, and planetary health. This covers a wide array of disciplines, and as a result, nutritional scientists can specialize in particular aspects of nutrition such as biology, physiology, immunology, biochemistry, education, psychology, sustainability, and sociology.

Your ability to wake up, to think clearly, to communicate effectively, to have goals, to dream, to go to school, to gain knowledge, to do work, to do interesting things, to earn a living, and anything else you like to do, are dependent upon one factor—your health. Good health means you are able to function with a great deal of freedom and this allows you the liberty to choose to work hard to achieve your goals in life.

Maybe an important and meaningful way to view nutrition is that Good Nutrition translates into Good Health, and good health is Freedom. Being healthy is multidimensional. There are many facets contributing to a person’s health and wellness. It may be possible that you could feel better than you currently do by a slight improvement in your nutrition? You may already feel great, but what if you could feel spectacular, rather than just great, would you want to give it a try?

There are many conventions with regard to our western/cultural nutrition that should be questioned. For example, “Saturated Fats are bad for you and lead to obesity heart disease”. One big problem with this statement: It is pure myth! There has never been a single scientific study that shows a direct link between natural saturated fats and cardiovascular disease. There have recently been more and more studies that link excessive refined sugar intake with a host of chronic disease states, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes type 2, obesity, as well as behavior problems such as erratic violent behavior and the so called ‘disorder’ known as ADHD.

The encouraging aspect of taking the time to closely examine a few things, is that fairly recently many thoughtful and diligent people have raised great questions about firmly held ‘beliefs’ with regard to nutrition and health. This is especially true in the last 10 to 20 years, and as a consequence of these legitimate challenges to long held erroneous beliefs regarding nutrition, astounding information is being revealed. Therefore, it is important to be honest and seek the truth about our health and how nutrition impacts it. The time is now, it is very important not remain silent about the things that matter (to paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), and to have the courage to be able to listen to new or little known information and be able to think about it in an open way and as a consequence, maybe become better informed and change your opinion about nutrition - perhaps even change your behavior and your choices regarding nutrition.

We should all be afforded the courtesy and the freedom to explore the important topic of nutrition without the fear being labeled a quack, a nut or un-scientific. The arena of your health and wellbeing belongs to you.

Other common myths that can be explored further:Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Eggs are bad for you; Red meat is bad for you. High salt/sodium is bad and causes high blood pressure.Genetically modified foods will save the planet from starvation.Artificial sweeteners are a healthier choice compared to refined sugar.

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Exercise: Make a list of some topics in nutrition you think are worth taking a closer look at.

1) __________________________________________________________________________

2) __________________________________________________________________________

3) __________________________________________________________________________

B. An Integrative Approach to the Study of Human Nutrition1. How the body functions and the Physiological Processes involved in Human Nutrition The six phases of digestion and the brief overview of how the body extracts nutrients from the foods consumed are presented below.

1. Ingestion - To take into the body by the mouth for digestion.

2. Digestion - the process in the alimentary canal by which food is broken down physically by the action of the teeth, and chemically by the action of enzymes, and converted into a substance suitable for absorption and assimilation into the body.

3. Absorption - The movement of a substance, such as a liquid or solute, across a cell membrane.

4. Transport - The movement of ions or molecules across a cell membrane in the direction opposite that of diffusion, that is, from an area of lower concentration to one of higher concentration. Active transport requires the assistance of a type of protein called a carrier protein, using energy supplied by ATP.

5. Assimilation - The conversion of nutriment into a useable form (e.g. liquid or solid) that is incorporated into the tissues and organs following the processes of digestion. Also the chemical alteration of substances in the bloodstream by the liver or cellular secretions.

6. Excretion - Egestion is the act of excreting unusable or undigested material from the digestive tract of multicellular animals. Elimination broadly defines the mechanisms of waste disposal by a living system.

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Table 1. Shows the actions and end-products of the digestive tract - also called the Gastrointestinal (G.I) tract or the Alimentary (L. nourishment) canal.

The Human Digestive System:The entire human gastrointestinal (GI) tract is approximately 30 feet in length. The time it takes to go through all of the process (or phases) mentioned about will vary depending on the person, and the type and quantity of food ingested. Basically, the process of digestion is typically in the range of taking between 24 and 72 hours.

Figure 2. Shows the human digestive system, from where the ingestion of food starts at the mouth, through the gastrointestinal (G.I.) tract where nutrients are processed and absorbed, to the end where waste is eliminated.

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2. Geneticsa) Human Genetic Variation The variations in the human genome means that often people deal with foods differently. For instance, some people are lactose intolerant because they lack the gene that is responsible for making the enzyme lactase, which breaks down the disaccharide lactose into the two monosaccharides glucose and galactose. Others may sensitive to dairy because they are allergic the protein casein that is found in milk. Another common emerging allergy is to gluten, which is found in many grains. An allergy is when your body experiences an inappropriate exaggerated immune response to a harmless substance, that is, it over-reacts to something that is not really dangerous to you. This is why some people need to avoid traditional dairy food, because they respond poorly to it, not because dairy is bad for you. Another important question to ask is why have allergic reactions shown a relatively sudden and dramatic increase over the last 20 years?

b) EpigeneticsA valuable concept to keep in mind is that you are not ‘doomed by your genes’ to anything, including bad health. Incredibly important scientific studies have been carried out in the field of Epigenetics – the study of cell trait variations caused by external or environmental factors that can turn genes on and off and affect how cells read gene and possibly change the DNA sequence. Below is a summary of the published work: Waterland, R. A. & Jirtle, J. L. Transposable elements: targets for early nutritional effects on epigenetic gene regulation. Molecular and Cell Biology, 23, 5293 - 5300, (2003).

The Agouti Mice ExperimentThe Agouti mice are adorable little animals that have yellow coats, display obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, similar to animals missing leptin. This is due to a naturally occurring genetic mutation that blocks the function of the gene that produces alpha melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH). Phenotypic (physical) changes result in the appearance of the Agouti mouse. It appears that when these rodents have a deficiency in methyl groups residing at specific DNA gene locations, it causes these ‘deleterious’ genes to more likely by expressed.

Figure 3. The same genetic Agouti mice are shown. The difference in their phenotype (physical appearance) is due to the DNA hypo-methylation (obese yellow mouse) and adequate the DNA methylation (thin brown mouse). It appears that a severe methyl donor deficiency induces gene-specific changes in these rodents.

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These experiments in mice show just how important a mother's diet is in shaping the epigenome of her offspring. All mammals have a gene called agouti. When a mouse's agouti gene is completely un-methylated, its coat is yellow and it is obese and prone diabetes and cancer. When the agouti gene is methylated (as it is in normal mice), the coat color is brown and the mouse has a low disease risk. Fat yellow mice and skinny brown mice are genetically identical. The fat yellow mice are different because they have an epigenetic "mutation" that is expressed!

When researchers fed pregnant yellow mice a methyl-rich diet, most of her pups were brown and stayed healthy for life. These results show that the environment in the womb influences adult health. In other words, our health is not only determined by what we eat, but also what our parents ate.

Figure 4. A photograph of the genetically identical Agouti mice. The diet of the mother of the smaller brown mouse was supplemented with choline, folic acid, betaine and vitamin B12. And the mother of the other big yellow mouse on the left was fed the normal lab mouse food diet.Photo Randy L. Jirtle, PhD

Chemicals that enter our bodies can also affect the epigenome. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a compound used to make polycarbonate plastic. It is in many consumer products, including water bottles and tin cans. Controversial reports questioning the safety of BPA came out in 2008, prompting some manufacturers to stop using the chemical. In the laboratory, BPA appears to reduced methylation of the agouti gene. In the strain of mice that was studied, yellow mothers give birth to pups with a range of coat colors from yellow to brown. When mothers were fed BPA, their babies were more likely to be yellow and obese—like the one shown on the left above. However, when mothers were fed BPA along with methyl-rich foods, the offspring were more likely to be brown and healthy—like the one on the right. The maternal nutrient supplementation had counteracted the negative effects of exposure.

If a pregnant mother's diet can affect the child's epigenetic outcome, can dad's diet do the same? Quite possibly, according to scientists who delved into the well-kept, historical records of annual harvests from a small Swedish community. These records showed that food availability between the ages of nine and twelve for the paternal grandfather affected the lifespan of his grandchildren. But not in the way you might think. It was a shortage of food for the grandfather

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was associated with extended lifespan of his grandchildren. Food abundance, on the other hand, was associated with a greatly shortened lifespan of the grandchildren. Early death was the result of either diabetes or heart disease. Perhaps during this critical period of development for the grandfather, epigenetic mechanisms "capture" nutritional information about the environment to pass on to the next generation?

c) Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are the by-product of splicing genes from one species into the DNA of another species. Although promoted and encouraged by some, this technology is fraught with unknown and possibly disastrous consequences for our health and the environment, yet GMO’s are replete in the general food supply and continue to be unlabeled. In the United States, approximately 80 to 90% of all conventionally sold corn and soy are genetically modified. In addition, there have never been any safety studies required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the protection of consumers of genetically modified food. The term “generally regarded as safe” (GRAS) is used by the FDA as a cover-all to declare that there is no need to even test GMO’s, they are simply assumed to be safe. This is a reckless and deliberately poor assessment of this technology. A good way to avoid GMO’s, and the potential health concerns they may present, is to choose organically produced food.

3. EnvironmentalHow does your Environmental surrounding impact your Nutrition? The specific location where you live on earth will impact the foods you eat and therefore the nutrition available to you.

Presented below are some Current Issues regarding the Environment and Nutrition:While scanning for issues related to environmental nutrition, I included a sample of topics below. In his nutrition class, discussions on topics like these are welcome, and all views are listened to with respect. I have provided some commentary (in italics) for a few issues below.

The Link Between Healthy Nutritious Foods and SustainabilityWhy is it that “Experts” recommend a shift from a diet heavy in animal foods to a plant-centric diet? It is often stated that it will be better for the planet, since it has been recognized that the fast food industry has changed the complexion of the entire planet. For instance, many popular “Burger Chain” restaurants have been blamed for the continuous destruction of the rainforests in South America. Please be aware that the cattle are not grazing on the bulldozed land, but rather the land has been cleared for massive crops of corn and soy to provide feed for these livestock animal. The most alarming aspect of this is that these animals are not meant to eat corn and soy (both of which are considered grains), they are supposed to eat grass! Somehow, some people decided it was ‘cheaper’ to bulldoze rain forests, grow these crops and feed them to grazing animals which are not meant to eat them. By the way, most agricultural corporations must use the practice of coating the grains with molasses so the cows will eat the grains rather than starve. When cows are forced to eat sugar covered grains instead of grass - which is what their digestive system is designed to process - these animals get sick! Some may believe there is an easy fix: Give these animals antibiotics! Ridding Meat of AntibioticsAntibiotic resistance is a serious public health issue. It can limit your treatment options when you’re sick, raise your healthcare costs, and increase the number, severity, and duration of some infections. Today there is evidence and consensus among scientific and medical groups that the use of antibiotics in food animal production contributes to antibiotic resistance in humans. A

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CDC report published in 2013 estimated that in the US, more than two million people are sickened every year with antibiotic-resistant infections, with at least 23,000 dying as a result.

I noticed this topic on antibiotics in meat. This is directly related to feeding an animal the wrong food! It is also intimately linked to the stressful and inhumane conditions in which the animals are housed. The environment of the livestock animal should have an impact on our decision as to whether to support such practices or not. The flawed logic and immoral actions of large agricultural corporations (“Agricorp”) are this: It is ‘cheaper’ to feed an animal low nutrient food and it does not matter if the food is incompatible with their physiology, because when they get sick, they can be treated with massive amounts of antibiotics, such that they are disease ridden and toxic laden by the time they ‘make it to market’. Therefore, rather than treat an animal humanely in an environment that reflects its state in nature and provide foods that are compatible with its physiological needs, those contrary short sighted, pseudo economic choices are made. Rather than hiding behind the cop-out of deciding ‘meat is bad for you’, our society should be aware of the practices that are used to deliver food to the supermarkets – and once you become aware, show your humanity by refusing to purchasing animal food that is treated this way. This is an act of non-participation in an evil practice (evil = profoundly immoral).

New Dietary Guidelines for Health Coming SoonEvery five years, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC), our nation’s nutrition experts, gather together to review the evidence collected over the preceding five years and put forth new recommendations for optimal eating, known as the Dietary Guidelines. And 2015 is the year for a new diet strategy to help get our nation on track. Recently released excerpts from the DGAC show a glimpse of where we stand—and where we need to be. Americans are not eating enough fruit, whole grains, and vegetables. And we’re eating too much added sugars, refined grains, sodium, saturated fat, and calories. Obesity and its many risk factors are still a concern—65% of adult females, 70% of adult males, and nearly 1 in 3 children (2-19 years) are overweight or obese.

The Scoop on Maca; Understanding “Ultra-Processed” FoodsMaca (Lepidium meyenii) is an Andean root vegetable in the cruciferous family, most commonly consumed today in powder form. It’s believed to enhance sexual function, fertility, and drive. In another era, Inca warriors ate maca before battle to increase energy and stamina. Also called “Peruvian ginseng” because of similar claims related to vigor and libido (not botanical similarities), maca is a supplement typically added to smoothies

Plant Waters Make a SplashWith experts cautioning that sugar is a cause of obesity and chronic disease, combined with the trend towards all things “natural,” it’s no surprise that consumers are turning to plant waters, such as coconut, maple, and birch water. These waters appeal to our desire for healthier, less-processed alternatives to overly sweetened ready-to-drink beverages.

Learning from Ancient Ayurveda Diet TraditionsAyurveda, a 5,000-year old ancient practice from India, is rising in popularity in the Western world. The name “ayu” translates to life, and “veda” to knowledge or science. The primary belief of the practice is that nourishment for the body is also nourishment for the mind and soul. In Ayurveda, it’s not just what you eat that matters; it’s also when, how and why you eat. Ayurveda uses diet, yoga, herbs, and spices to restore balance and harmony within the body.

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Say “Yes” to Canned Fruits, Vegetables, and BeansCanned foods—fruits, vegetables, and beans—are the ultimate convenience foods—nutritious, available year-round, and economical. Yet surveys show they are misunderstood and not considered healthful choices. Historically, canning was developed to preserve summer’s bounty, and extend food availability all year long to prevent seasonal starvation. Canned foods contain the same important nutrients—sometimes even more—as fresh foods, and they can help you fit more fruits, vegetables, and seafood into your diet, at a lower cost.

What is important to consider in addition to the food in the can is, what is the can lined with? As many may be aware, BPA is used to make BPA resins, which keep metal from corroding and breaking. It coats about 75% of cans in North America, which means if you eat canned foods, it’s likely a major source of BPA exposure for you. It would be advisable to look for cans that indicate there is no BPA used in their lining. An additional issue is, what ‘preservatives’ if any, are used in the canned food? For instance sea salt is a preservative and so is sodium benzoate; and I know which one I want in my body – yes, the sea salt and not the carcinogenetic benzoate.

Fight Cancer with FiberFitting fiber into your diet is a cancer-preventive strategy. Fiber most clearly protects against colorectal cancer—risk drops 10% for each 10-gram increase in fiber. Analysis combining 16 population studies also links higher fiber with lower breast cancer risk. Because fiber is a component of foods with nutrients and plant compounds (phytochemicals) that may help reduce cancer risk, it’s difficult to isolate fiber-specific protection.

Cocoa and its History Many recent findings suggest chocolate may play a role in insulin resistance. In a study that included 18,235 men over the age of 66 years, researchers compared men who ate no chocolate to those who ate 1-3 (1-ounce) servings per month, 1 serving per week, and at least 2 servings per week. Risk of developing type 2 diabetes reduced by 7, 14, and 17 percent, respectively. The individuals with the greatest protection were those with a BMI under 25 and who consumed 1-2 servings of chocolate per week.

With all the new interest in the benefits of chocolate, let’s be specific, it really should be stated as the benefits of cocoa, not chocolate per se. It is worth recognizing that many mega food corporations that make chocolate, such as Nestle and Hershey’s, have attempted to capitalize on this wind-fall for chocolate. Look for the cocoa content (as a %) as well as the refined sugar content to determine how beneficial it may actually be. Another question that would be worth asking ourselves is where is all this cocoa coming from? As it turns out, the chocolate maker Nestle has been in the news lately with regard to cocoa.

Follow the link below to see that three mega food corporations (and the term food is used loosely) are being sued for child slavery in relation to harvesting cocoa in West Africa. Sep 9, 2014 - Nestlé, ADM and Cargill can be held to account for aiding and abetting child slavery in Cote d’Ivoire (www.confectionerynews.com/.../Cocoa-child-slavery-case-against-Nestle.. thousands of children are forced to work without pay in West Africa..). We should question where we get the raw resources we need in this country, who is importing these resources to industrialized nations and how it is processed differently in different places.

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4. PsychologicalHere is a sample of questions from a Psychology of Nutrition course. Can you please identify the potential flaws in these questions, regardless of what your answer may be?1. Do you agree with the statement: “Although there are some exceptions, most foods are either good or bad for health”?2. For each option below, which diet is healthier (both diets have same number of calories):

a) A diet that is completely salt-free, or a diet in which you have a pinch of salt every day?b) A diet that is completely fat-free, or a diet in which you have a pinch of fat every day?

3. If you were stranded on a deserted island, which of these two food options would be best to take with you?

a) A pack of hotdogs and some bunsb) Some cabbage and a bag of oranges

Answer, a) because they have more calories and would last longer. 4. For each option below, which food has more calories:

a) 1 ounce of chocolate or 5 ounces of bread.b) A teaspoon of corn oil or half a teaspoon of pure animal fat.

There are now certificates for the Psychology of eating and programs to train people how to become a Professional Certified Eating Psychology Coach: Our Eating Psychology Coach Certification Training is a powerful, information rich, 8 month, 250 hour distance learning professional program that provides you with a strong skill-set and the confidence to work with the most common and compelling eating concerns of our times.

The act of feeling happy is, to a degree, a matter of psychology. There is some famous philosopher or sage who said “There is no way to Happiness, Happiness is the way”. With that in mind, there are some basic principles to leading a happy life and it starts out with a very simple list that identifies the four keys to happiness.

Four keys to Happiness:1) Friendliness2) Compassion3) Cheerfulness4) Gratitude

5. CulturalThe physiological response to hunger and taste preferences are powerful stimuli influencing food choices, but the environment combined with the individual’s personal history likely has an equal influence. In a contemporary society representing many cultures and differing demographics, it is important to understand how each of these variables interacts. Health professionals or anyone else can best address the dietary and nutritional needs of a population when the mediating forces can be identified and accommodated when attempting to promote healthful food choices. This topic of how the cultural you live in impacts your diet and nutritional decisions will be one that runs through the entire course. It will be important to examine how the various forms of media (television, movies, music, magazines, and websites) can act as external influences on dietary patterns, nutrition and health of individuals. There are also significant differences in our individual cultural experiences that may be associated with socioeconomic environments, spiritual beliefs, educational levels and ethnicity.

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Various Cultures have their own version of the “Food Pyramid” and Plate

Figure 5. Shows the Asian Diet Pyramid and My Healthy Plate with culturally relevant elements displayed like fish, rice in a bowel with chopsticks, and hot tea as a common beverage.

6. SocialThe food choices we make are heavily influenced by our social and cultural environment. Therefore, so too are the decisions we make about Nutrition.

The following influence food choices: Nutritional Value Advertising Availability Convenience Economy Comfort Ethnicity Habit Personal Preference Positive Associations Geographical location Social Pressure Values and beliefs Body weight Select foods to provide adequate amounts of nutrients and energy! When humans eat, foremost in mind is they are consuming foods, not nutrients!

Perhaps the issue of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) fits into several of the above categories. There are several specific ways in which GMOs damage the Environment; Human Psychology; Cultural Traditions and Social constructs. It has become more clear that GMOs are unfortunately not the solution to world hunger they were been promoted to be. The use of GM practices present many serious potential dangers to animals, plants, soil, and ultimately humanity that must be examined in a truly scientific way. It is not accurate for anyone to claim that “The consensus is in, GM’s have been tested and they are safe”. This is simply not true. It is not fear-

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mongering ignorant quacks who are raising concerns, but well respected educated scientist who have presented very serious and vital questions regarding the significant impacts of the GM practices that have been taking place since the 1990’s, with little or no regulation or testing.

1) GMOs Disrupt Digestion. In a 2004 study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology found that transgenic plant DNA actually persists in the human gastrointestinal tract upon consumption. According to this important study, which is the closest thing to a human clinical trial that has ever been conducted with GMOs, genetic material from GMOs actually transfers into the DNA of living bacteria in the gut, where it reproduces indefinitely. Thus, the poor assumption that the human body is unable to tell the difference between GMOs and natural real food is scientifically untrue and inaccurate.

2) GMOs Cause Cancer. A recent study identifying a link between GMO consumption and cancer (‘Seralini Study’) shows that GMOs are processed by mammals far differently than natural foods. Rats fed a lifetime of GMOs sprayed with the toxic Roundup (glyphosate) herbicide developed serious tumors that took over their entire bodies. An earlier study published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences arrived at similar results, with the addition of organ failure as a symptom of GMO consumption.

3) GMOs Increase Herbicide Use. Contrary to industry claims, GMOs have not reduced the need for chemical poisons, but have greatly expanded it. According to a comprehensive, 16-year review of chemical use in conjunction with the advent of GMOs in 1996, researchers from Washington State University's Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources found that herbicide use has increased by an astounding 527 million pounds since GMOs were first introduced. Roundup herbicide (the chemical of choice for many GMOs), has been found to persist in soils, waterways, and other environmental nooks and crannies, and sometimes it even ends up contaminating water supplies.

4) GMOs Damage Native Species. A major point of contention with GMOs is that they can very easily pass their traits onto non-GMO, organic, and native crops and other plants, effectively destroying their very integrity permanently. Hundreds of farmers have been sued by Monsanto and other GMO giants over the years after their crops were inadvertently contaminated by GMOs. GMOs are also responsible for killing off bees, bats, butterflies, and other pollinators, whose bodies are unable to handle the onslaught of altered DNA and chemicals that are characteristic of GMO technologies.

5) GMOs Pollute the Environment. The weak contention of environmental benefits of GMOs is contrary the fact that the chemicals used to grow them are a major source of environmental pollution. A 2011 study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science found that the Bacillus thuriengensis (Bt) bacteria engineered into Monsanto's GM corn can now be found in hundreds of streams and waterways throughout the U.S. Midwest. Another study published in the journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry revealed that Roundup herbicide is also present in many waterways and groundwater sources throughout America as well.

6) GMOs Deplete Soil Minerals, Destroy Beneficial Bacteria. The presence of Roundup, Bt bacteria, and other GMO byproducts in our water and soil is comprehensive. Studies have shown that these chemicals degrade and deplete soils of vital minerals and beneficial bacteria, both of which protect crops from pests, viruses, and other threatening elements. Glyphosate, the active component in Roundup, also does not biodegrade, which means it is continually accumulating in

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the environment without restraint, perpetually altering soil composition and contaminating natural resources.

7) GMOs Spawn Crop-Destroying 'Super-Weeds,' 'Superbugs.' The basic premise behind how GMOs work contends that artificially engineering crops with resistance to certain chemicals and exposures that would otherwise harm or kill them can improve yields and protect the environment. And this built-in resistance has allowed farmers to indiscriminately spray chemicals like Roundup on their crops without worrying about killing them. But this system is now failing, as the weeds and pests targeted by GMO technologies have mutated and developed resistance to crop chemicals and Bt toxin. As a result, pestilence and disease is on the rise due to GMOs, which spells eventual disaster for the food supply.

C. Introduction to the Scientific Method and its Application to Nutritional ResearchBasic scientific knowledge about nutrition does change and should not be viewed in a rigid and fixed way. If you have the opportunity to delve further into scientific research in nutrition, you may be surprised at the lack of rigor or scientific method applied to some of the research that still influences public policy to this day.

“Let Truth be the Authority rather than Authority be the Truth”It is not necessarily valid that the advice from authoritative health groups, such as the American Heart Association, American Medical Association, Cancer Foundations and others, is wholly accurate and can be trusted. After all, it has been powerful and influential organizations such as these that have been actively promoting a low fat diet to the American public as a healthy way to avoid heart disease for over 50 years. It would stand to reason that if this low fat (high carb) dietary approach were successful we’d be enjoying tremendous health benefits today. Is that the case in this country? The answer is a resounding no. As a population, we are more obese, and have more nutritionally related diseases than ever. In addition, cardiovascular disease has not decreased as a result of people complying with the low fat diet; it has skyrocketed.

At this time, Heart Disease is the number one killer in the United States. Number one. This alone would surely make people question the validity of the ‘fat causes heart disease’ paradigm. It has literally taken decades for this slow realization to occur - that this hypothesis may not have only been incorrect, but fraudulent, and promoted knowingly. With the growing evidence showing other causes of heart disease and still zero studies showing a direct like between saturated fats and heart disease, the question becomes why has it taken so long to deconstruct this myth? The only reasonable answer might be that several powerful groups have benefited from this misinformation for a long time and have been running interference since Dr. Ancel Keys first presented his ‘breakthrough’ study in the late 1950’s.

If a lie is repeated often enough… people begin to believe itThe myth that animal fats are bad for your health has been repeated over and over and over again, and is constantly reinforced by authoritative experts. How can you blame anyone for mindlessly parroting sayings like “LDL is the bad cholesterol”? Cholesterol is cholesterol and you cannot live without it, so to call it bad is like living in kindergarten all your life. The LDL’s and HDL’s in your blood stream are carriers for cholesterol, and they are neither good nor bad, they simply carry lipids in the body. Why is it difficult for some people to re-examine and re-think their beliefs? Perhaps the lies have been so firmly entrenched in a belief system that to start to change their minds and perhaps develop different opinions must feel like a loss somehow, since there was so much time and energy invested in these beliefs and behaviors.

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The More Silent Culprits – Refined Sugar and FructoseRecently Dr. Robert Lustig has presented some great work regarding the harmful effects of excess fructose in the diet, especially with regard to young children. His work has made a clear connection between the shift in the American diet from being one high in natural fats to one with significant reductions in fat - noting the catastrophic effect this seems to have had on the health of people in this country. He has suggested that the main reason for this decline in health is that not only were good fats removed from the diet, but they were subsequently replaced with refined carbohydrates, like sugar. Thus, something good was taken out and replaced with something potentially very harmful. In part, the excessive addition of sugar was to make up for the blandness of the low fat food! This replacement of healthy fats with fructose is not compatible with the way our bodies processes energy, especially our liver. As a consequence of the misinformation and ‘confusion’ about the roles fats and sugars in human health, it would appear that many have found it difficult to get quality nutrients and to maintain good health.

The Scientific Method Sound nutritional research begins with the scientific method. Understanding the scientific method requires an understanding of the related terms and methodologies, such as hypothesis, observational research, peer-reviewed journals, and laboratory experiments. Different types of experiments can be run to confirm a hypothesis. Observational research evaluates groups of people to determine a relationship with a certain health outcome. Epidemiological research involves looking at an entire population of people to examine a certain health outcome. Experimental research involves at least two groups of subjects: the experimental group (receives a treatment) and a control group (doesn’t receive a treatment). The concepts of control groups, placebos, and double-blind studies are part of experimental research. Many hypotheses fail along the way in scientific research, but each finding presents new, valuable questions to researchers. Only when multiple affirming research studies have been conducted is a consensus reached about nutrition advice.

As amazing and detailed as the above information is about the nature of the scientific method, the important part to remember is that it must be followed in good faith in order to glean anything legitimate from it!

The Famous Study by Dr. Ancel Keys Linking Saturated Fats to Heart DiseaseAs evidence that we really should uphold the practice of applying the scientific method appropriately, let’s take a little closer look at the famous Ancel Keys study that supposedly ‘demonstrated’ a link between eating saturated fats and developing heart disease. It has been more thoroughly scrutinized recently and the resounding realization is that it appears this landmark study was never really a valid, vetted scientific study at all. Never. It has been openly criticized (though not widely exposed) for a long time now, however only very recently has it been meticulously examined in the book entitled “The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet” (2014) By Nina Teicholz. Some basic shortcomings (as a word applied generously) of the original study by the powerful and famous physiologist Dr. Keys, will be presented below.

There is a paper that appeared in a 1989 edition of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that supports the identification in Teicholz’s book about Keys’ problematic data. It was the famous Seven Countries Study, where Keys’ supposedly recorded what people in seven countries ate and then followed their health outcomes for several years.

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Here’s a description of the study’s design from the 1989 paper:

During the base-line survey 13,000 men, aged 40-59 y, were medically examined. Information on diet was collected in random samples from each cohort by use of the record method. Detailed data on food consumption patterns have been published only for 9 of the 16 cohorts. Therefore, the food intake data were coded once again into a standardized form by one person. Then the foods were summarized in a limited number of food groups. The average daily consumption per person of these food groups was calculated for each cohort.

Keys had food records, but the details about the coding and summarizing sounds odd. Then he followed the health of 13,000 men so he could find associations between diet and heart disease. So we can assume he had dietary records for all 13,000 of them, right? No, that was not the case.

The men from the Greek island of Crete were the great examples for his hypothesis about dietary fat and heart disease. They supposedly ate the diet Keys recommended: low-fat, olive oil instead of saturated animal fats. Keys tracked more than 300 middle-aged men from Crete as part of his study population and few of them suffered heart attacks. Hypothesis supported, case closed.

Guess how many of those 300-plus men were actually surveyed about their eating habits? The answer is 31. Yes, 31. That is about the size of the dataset from each of the seven countries, somewhere between 25 and 50 men. That’s a ridiculously small number of men to survey if the goal is to accurately compare diets and heart disease in seven countries. This is also assuming the dietary records were accurate. As Teicholz pointed out, Keys took one of his food-recall surveys in Greece during Lent, when religious Greeks abstain from animal foods. That is clearly a confounding variable. Directly from the paper:

In Crete the villages involved were Agies, Paraskies, Thrapsano, and Kastelli. In Corfu the villages were Ano Korakiana, Skriperon, and San Marco. About 30 men were involved in each dietary survey. However, the original 7-day records were no longer available.

No original records?! It was decided to reconstruct the diets of these cohorts on the basis of results of the dietary surveys mentioned in a publication by Keys et al. Therefore, in essence Keys swapped in the results from an earlier paper. Were they at least talking about a genuine dietary survey? When no information about the consumption of certain foods, e.g., fruits and vegetables was available, a food balance data sheet from Greece in 1961-65 was used as a substitute.

I hope you are getting the picture? Keys followed the health of more than 300 men from Crete. But he only surveyed 31 of them, with one of those surveys taken during the meat-abstinence month of Lent. Also, the original seven-day food-recall records weren’t available later, so he swapped in data from an earlier paper. Then to determine fruit and vegetable intake, he used data sheets about food availability in Greece during a four-year period.

He also intentionally left out: Countries where people eat a lot of fat but have little heart disease, such as Holland and

Norway. Countries where fat consumption is low but the rate of heart disease is high, such as

Chile.

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And from this, he concluded that high-fat diets cause heart attacks and low-fat diets prevent them.

Keep in mind, this is one of the most-cited studies in all of medical science. It’s one of the pillars of the Diet-Heart hypothesis. It helped to convince the USDA, the AHA, doctors, nutritionists, media health writers, your parents, etc., that saturated fat clogs our arteries and kills us, so we all need to be on low-fat diets – even kids.

D. Research Quality: Searchable Databases, Peer-Reviewed Research, Popular MediaWhen looking to any source for information, a useful guideline is how the information presented is cited. Peer-reviewed research is a good place to start. Even amongst scientist in the peer-reviewed research world, there will always be differences of opinion. What you as an individual must do is get as much valid information as you can in order to make an informed opinion.

Suggestions:a) ProQuest – Miramar College subscription to database literature. b) Mercola.comc) Authority Nutrition.orgd) healthy-eating-politics.com e) Seeds of Change f) NaturalNews.comg) fathead-movie.com

II. Health and Wellness.A. Definitions of Health and Wellness

Health - the state or condition of being free from illness or injury.

World Health Organization (WHO): Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Wellness - the quality or state of being healthy in body, mind and spirit, especially as the result of deliberate effort. Wellness is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life.

B. The Role of Diet in HealthThe role of diet in health is related to practically everything, even our emotions, mental and spiritual well-being (see the rest of the course). There are many ways that seeking accurate information and then practicing a good whole food diet can have an enormously positive effect on Improving Your Health.

Even in a current nutrition textbook it states that a healthy diet reduces the risk of four of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States: heart disease, cancer, strike, and diabetes (see table below). There is abundant and sound evidence that we can check with an x a few more of these top 10 killers. In a simple yet valid manner, food can be viewed as poison or medicine. It has been proven again and again that a good healthy diet is really like good medicine.

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Having taken the liberty of adding additional red x’s to the table above, I will briefly present the most salient points for doing so.

For “3. Respiratory Diseases” it is not clear what specific diseases this entails but I’ll assuming asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD’s) like emphysema, bronchitis, fibrotic lung, etc. Asthma is an example of an auto immune disorder that has skyrocketed in the last 20 years, most probably due to the massive influx of allergens into the public’s diet by way of Genetically Modified Foods! How do you have the freedom to avoid them in your diet if they are not labeled? One way to do that is to eat certified organic food – at least it is supposed to be GMO free. Many people have used “elimination diets” to measure their sensitivity to certain foods. It may be that GM corn and soy (crops that are 90% GM in this country) have revved up people’s immune systems, and as a consequence there are many more serious allergies.

For “6. Alzheimer’s Disease” it has been shown that patients suffering from Alzheimer’s diseases who did nothing more than add a few tablespoons of coconut oil to their diets everyday showed significant improvement in memory tasks and other improvements in markers for the level of the disorder (e.g., drawing a clock). Coconut oil is made from medium chain saturated fatty acids – the very kind that has been vilified for over 50 years. About 50% of coconut oil is lauric acid, and it is the same lipid that is the primary lipid component in human breast milk. Lauric acid stimulates neurons in the developing brain, as well as promote the developing immune system – perfect for a growing baby. It also appears to be a stimulator of older brains and immune systems. If coconut oil were more common used in our diet, perhaps fewer people would get Alzheimer’s disease to begin with.

X

X

X

X

X

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For “8. Kidney Disease” Many kidney diseases are from viral and bacterial infection, due to poor health and diet. Also, if you overload your body with toxins for 20 years, the overworked organs of cleaning and detoxing, the kidney and liver, are going to become worn out much sooner than they should. Avoiding alcohol and prescription medication (most of which also warns of damage to kidneys and liver) would be a sure way to reduce risk of kidney disease.

For “9. Influenza and Pneumonia” these are diseases of opportunistic infection and can be related back to poor health linked to diet. If your defense system is run down, you will get the flu. Vitamin D is vital for a healthy and vigilant immune system and it has been shown to protect from the human body against infection and everyday pathogens. Most Americans’ are Vitamin D deficient, even in the summer when your own body can make it from exposing your skin to the sun! In the winter months vitamin D can be significantly low, and that is why most people get cold and flu’s in the winter time, when their immune systems suppressed due to lack of vitamin D. In addition, diets high in refined sugar have been shown to suppress the immune stem.

Figure 6. Graph showing the suppressed phagocytic index of macrophages after ingestion of refined sugars, compared to the effects of starch ingestions, which did not impair macrophages in the same way.

For “10. Suicide” Speaking of Vitamin D, it has been shown that lack of vitamin D is linked with depression. Again, think of the dark winter months and how many people are susceptible to Seasonally Associated Depression (SAD). Getting plenty of the amino acid precursors to melatonin (the sleep hormone), serotonin and dopamine (neurotransmitters associated with mood) is also very important in order to maintain a stable mood. Getting adequate sleep is an enormously important mental, physical and psychological health issue. There have been a number of studies reviewing the nature of the connection between diet and behavior – particularly relevant is a poor diet high in sugar and violent suicidal behavior! Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock has written extensively of this issue – which we will review.

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Most Nutrition textbooks state that “Nutrition in the twenty-first century has evolved to developing new functional foods and nutraceuticals, and to designing diets for longevity rather than just for preventing chronic disease. (?)” I have no idea what this means. The term "Nutraceuticals" is a combination of the words nutrition and pharmaceutical, coined by Stephen DeFelice, a doctor and the founder of the Foundation for Innovation in Medicine (FIM) in 1989. Nutraceuticals are defined as foodstuffs which provide health benefits in addition to their basic nutritional value. These may include fortified foods as well as dietary supplements that can be sold in capsules, tablets or powders. The idea behind the use of nutraceuticals is that certain organic extracts can have positive benefits on both the mind and body. From cancer to vertigo, claims of nutraceuticals' effectiveness in combating or altogether curing a long list of ailments are abundant.

What you eat can alter your DNA and how it is Expressed Research suggests that the nutrients we eat attach to proteins that bind to DNA or to the cell surface, thereby increasing or decreasing gene expression. Please see the section that details the agouti mice experiments. They serves as a great example of the huge benefits that adding some very basic nutrients to your diet can have on your physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing. It will be shown again and again that what you eat has a significant impact on your life. The area of research that studies the relationships among gene expression, nutrition, and health is called nutritional genomics.

C. Dimensions of WellnessWellness can be thought of as a purposeful and intricate balance we develop to effectively deal with the world around us. It is definitely more than physical health, exercise or nutrition. It is the full integration of states of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

In 1976 Dr. Bill Hettler released his research that was to become the Six Dimensions of Wellness model. Those dimensions were intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, occupational, and physical. There are many variations on that original model used today and they can range from five to eight dimensions to wellness. Recently, there has been the addition of environmental and occupational wellness. If we use the model of the seven dimensions, we can make general statements about how each one of them can act and interact in a way that contributes to the enrichment and quality of our life.

1. PhysicalPhysical Wellness is the ability to maintain a healthy quality of life that allows us to get through our daily activities without undue fatigue or physical stress. The ability to recognize that our behaviors have a significant impact on our wellness and adopting healthful habits (routine checkups, a balanced diet, exercise, etc.) while avoiding destructive habits (tobacco, drugs, alcohol, etc.) will lead to optimal Physical Wellness.

2. EmotionalEmotional Wellness is the ability to understand ourselves and cope with the challenges life can bring. The ability to acknowledge and share feelings of anger, fear, sadness or stress; hope, love, joy and happiness in a productive manner contributes to our Emotional Wellness.

3. Mental Mental Wellness is a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, and is able to create and maintain a stimulating and alert mental attitude.

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4. SocialSocial Wellness is the ability to relate to and connect with other people in our world. Our ability to establish and maintain positive relationships with family, friends and co-workers contributes to our Social Wellness.

5. OccupationalOccupational Wellness is the ability to get personal fulfillment from our jobs or our chosen career fields while still maintaining balance in our lives. Our desire to contribute in our careers to make a positive impact on the organizations we work in and to society as a whole leads to Occupational Wellness.

6. IntellectualIntellectual Wellness is the ability to open our minds to new ideas and experiences that can be applied to personal decisions, group interaction and community betterment. The desire to learn new concepts, improve skills and seek challenges in pursuit of lifelong learning contributes to our Intellectual Wellness. Perhaps this has become integrated with mental wellness - stimulating the mind and mental capacity.

7. SpiritualSpiritual Wellness is the ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives. The ability to develop congruency between values and actions and to realize a common purpose that binds creation together contributes to our Spiritual Wellness.

Environmental Wellness is the ability to recognize our own responsibility for the quality of the air, the water and the land that surrounds us. The ability to make a positive impact on the quality of our environment, be it our homes, our communities or our planet contributes to our Environmental Wellness.

III. Establishing Nutrient Requirements.A. Contribution of Scientific Inquiry in Establishing RequirementsCheck the Food Label Before You BuyFood labels have several parts: Front panel, Added nutrients (e.g., “enriched grain/pasta” means thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, iron, and folic acid have been added. Nutrition Facts, Ingredients list, What’s in the food including e.g., added fats, or sugars. Ingredients listed in descending order by weight. Using the Nutrition Facts

Note: We will examine Nutrition Facts that are listed on packaged food labels and it should become obvious fairly quickly that the label is not necessarily going to give you all the accurate information you might want. Food manufactures use many deceptive practices in order for you to believe that their product is somehow “healthy” for you, or not so bad for you as some say!

The other issue is to realize the truth: That demonized ingredients such as saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium are NOT bad for your health. Now trans fats are very bad for you, and should be avoided. We need to know the difference so we can easily spot the deceptions that are

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presented right on the label. The % Daily Value (%DV) is another issue that we can examine more closely.

Nutrition Facts serving sizes may differ from Food Guide Pyramid (e.g., 2 ozs of dry macaroni yields about 1 cup cooked, or two [½ cup] Pyramid servings). We will also see that the food pyramid and the MyPlate and whatever other structures are created are routinely very poor representations of a balance, healthy and nutritious diet! A class activity should be to build a typical food pyramid (say with soda cans) and then take it out to compass point and destroy it, to show that is it not a useful tool for anything – except as good physical activity involved when smashing it up!

B. Public Policy For some people, eating well and maintaining a healthy body weight may require some assistance or guidance from others. On the subject of public policy, it is usually large organizations with a great deal of influence that drive public policy. It is worthwhile to be aware that many of these very large organizations that are involved with public policy may have confounding interests which may not be immediately apparent. Immediately below is an example from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) website:

CSPI:We need programs and policies that make healthy food more available, that disclose the calorie content of restaurant foods, and that teach people how to make healthy eating easier. There are existing nutrition policies and programs, like Nutrition Facts labels on packaged foods, nutrition standards for school lunches, and regulation of food additives. But more needs to be done to help people who want to eat well and prevent diet-related disease.

Implement Nutrition Labeling on Menus/Menu Boards at Restaurants Decrease Marketing of Low-Nutrition Foods to Children Improve School Meals Improve School Foods Sold Outside of Meals Vending, a la carte, fundraisers, snacks, rewards, parties, etc. Provide Healthier Food Choices for Public Places Increase Physical Activity in Schools Decrease Sugary Drink Consumption Eliminate Trans Fats Decrease Salt Consumption Improve Retail Checkout

It is very likely that institutions, like the CPSI, will hold faithfully to the standard conventions in nutrition. For example, the Decrease Salt Consumption bullet in the list from the website above. This is another monumentally devastating untruth in nutrition. Salt is not bad for you nor should it be avoided. Firstly, let’s be clear: Salt is different from the isolated Sodium Chloride (NaCl) found in table salt, which is comprised of you guessed it, Sodium and Chloride. Real salt, like Himalayan or Celtic Sea Salt, not only contains the major minerals that your body needs, like Sodium, Potassium, Phosphorus and Calcium, but it also supplies varying degrees of necessary trace minerals – which are also crucial for good health. These include some of the following: Magnesium, Manganese, Boron, Copper, Silicon, and Iron. Nickel, Bromide, Sulfur, Iodine, Cobalt and even Platinum.

If it were stated that massive amounts of isolated sodium chloride may not be good for your health, yes, that sounds reasonable. However, reducing all of the other minerals as a strategy to

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be “healthy” is nonsense. In addition, the studies purporting to show a link between high sodium intake and elevated blood pressure are on par with the Ansel Keys ‘fats is bad for you’ mythos. In 1996, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a meta-analysis of 56 clinical trials done since 1980 in people with normal blood pressure, and found that extreme salt reduction had little effect on lowering blood pressure. In another recent study, the investigators found that the less salt people ate, the more likely they were to die of heart disease. And another recent study shows that eating less salt increases triglycerides and other hormones in the blood, which increases blood pressure and heart attack risk. We will go even more into this issue in the minerals section.

On this CSPI institution’s website there is some movement towards logical and accurate approaches, e.g., the desire listed from the website above to Decrease Sugary Drink Consumption. The potential might be that public policy for these noble desires may use approaches like creating a “soda tax” to dissuade people from consuming that bad bad drink, especially children. Or an all-out “ban” on them in certain situations. Please note that alcohol is very expensive and yet this does not deter people from consuming it. It is also ‘banned’ from teenagers, but again that has not been a successful strategy in reducing its consumption by this group. Just as injecting heroine is illegal and therefore “banned” it may surprise some to know that there are still plenty of people who will risk jail time for the reward of getting their fix. Therefore, even stiff laws will not prevent people from making poor choices.

In conclusion, public policy or legislative laws do not necessarily change people’s behavior. What may be more powerful is for any individual to be as informed as possible about the true nature of the world they live in. Examine the world around you carefully and thoughtfully. Then, it might be that despite a law ‘protecting’ you from drinking something, you will already be well informed enough to know the truth and decide for yourself. For example, if you want to drink raw milk (but it is banned), you should be able to do so. Chances are, you are informed and knowledgeable enough to know it is good for you. By the way, that cow must be very healthy if you do not have to super-boil the milk to kill the pathogens in it! You also might decide not to eat the cheaply priced, excessively available and heavily refined foods that consist mostly of corn, soy, sugar, canola oil and wheat, even though it is perfectly legal and perhaps aggressively promoted for you to do so. You decide not to consume these readily available items because you understand they are nationally empty.

C. Tools for Assessing Health and Diets1. Anthropometry2. Dietary recall, diet diaries3. Diet analysis software4. Designing Healthy Diets

a. Self Improvementb. Projecting Changing Dietary Needsc. Educating Others

How Do We Assess Nutritional Status?An individual’s state of nutrition can be described as either healthy or malnourished.

It is important to assess whether someone is healthy, malnourished, undernourished, or over-nourished. A multitude of methods exist to assess both under-nutrition and over-nutrition.

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Nutrition professional such as a Registered Dietician Nutritionist (RDN) can determine and individual’s current nutrition status.

Use the ABCD Method to assess the nutritional status of individuals. This includes any experiences with acute or chronic illness and anything that may increase nutrient needs or induce malabsorption. It is named for the four general methods used to assess nutritional status.Anthropometric; Biochemical; Clinical; Dietary intake

The Four General Methods of Nutritional Assessment

Anthropometric AssessmentAnthropometry in nutrition, simply refers to the measurement of the size and proportions of the human body (Greek; anthro meaning man and metron to measure). Anthropometric measurements are inexpensive and easily obtained. It is a form of assessment that measures body size or body composition. Common anthropometric measures:

• Height• Weight• BMI• Waist-to-hip ratio• Waist circumference• Growth chart (for children and adolescents)• Body composition

Biochemical AssessmentMany of the routine blood and urine laboratory test found in patients' chart are useful in providing an objective assessment of nutritional status. However, there is no single available test for evaluating short-term response for medical nutritional therapy. Laboratory tests should be used in conjunction with anthropometric data, clinical data, and dietary intake assessments.Lab tests assess nutritional status by measuring the nutrient levels in body fluids, including blood and urine, might measure:

• How fast a nutrient is excreted through urine• Metabolic by-products of various nutrients in urine

Clinical AssessmentClinical assessment is the physical examination (P.E.) of an individual for signs and symptoms suggestive of nutritional health and/or clinical pathology. Signs usually come late in the pathogenesis of a disease, unlike biochemical tests that can detect early malnutrition states. Clinical examinations are conducted by the physician (or a trained/experienced clinical staff) on anatomic changes that can be seen or felt in the superficial, epithelial tissues like skin, eyes, hair, buccal mucosa or organ systems (e.g. thyroid, spleen and liver). The use of a stethoscope, blood pressure and pulse rate measurements, height and weight are standard procedures in P.E. charting.

This can include inspecting several parts of the body during the physical examination for evidence of poor nutrition. Areas of the body that show signs of malnutrition:

• Hair -

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• Skin - • Eyes - • Fingernails - • Tongue - • Lips -

Dietary Intake AssessmentThe most commonly used data collected are food recalls and food frequency questionnaire (retrospective) and food records (prospective).

Assessing Dietary Intake through Questionnaires and Interviews: Questioning an Individual about his or her dietary intake and diet history is an important aspect of a nutrition assessment.

i. Food Frequency Questionnaires assess consumption patterns of nutrients over time; they are generally reliable and accurate but cannot always be as specific as necessary.

ii. A Food Record is a diary of food and beverages eaten is kept by an individual. It relies on a person‘s skill and commitment to keeping a complete and honest record.

iii. The 24-hour Dietary Recall method involves a quick assessment of foods consumed in the preceding 24 hours. It is accomplished through an interview conducted by a trained professional; accurate data relies on the skill of the interviewer and the memory skills of the interviewee.

Collecting anthropometric data (basic information about height, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratios, waist circumference, and pediatric growth charts) can help in assessing nutritional status. Data obtained through measurements are compared with reference standards and can help determine an individual’s risk of developing certain diseases related to obesity.

Conducting a physical examination can sometimes help detect physical symptoms associated with malnutrition.

Collecting biochemical data via lab tests to determine nutritional health includes taking blood and urine samples to examine nutrient levels in body fluids, how fast a nutrient is excreted through urine, and the metabolic by-products of certain nutrients found in urine.Surveys are used to assess the nutritional status of a population group.

Assessing groups of people, or population groups, has similarities to assessing an individual. National surveys have been conducted to examine the health of Americans. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a series of surveys conducted to examine the nutritional status of Americans over time and to monitor risk behaviors. The Framingham Heart Study has had great impact on the understanding of risk factors relating to cardiovascular disease.