Human nutrition
The microbiome converts fiber into signals that stimulate gut hormones, which in turn control how quickly the stomach empties, regulate blood sugar levels, and influence feelings of hunger.
Fermentable fibers are used as food by the microbiome, mildly increasing bulk, and producing short-chain fatty acids and other metabolites, including vitamins, hormones, and glucose.
[43] A diet that contains adequate amounts of amino acids (especially those that are essential) is particularly important in some situations: during early development and maturation, pregnancy, lactation, or injury (a burn, for instance).
Recommended intake volumes in the elderly are the same as for adults as despite lower energy consumption, the water requirement of this group is increased due to a reduction in renal concentrating capacity.
Moreover, thousands of different phytochemicals have recently been discovered in food (particularly in fresh vegetables), which may have desirable properties including antioxidant activity (see below); experimental demonstration has been suggestive but inconclusive.
[104] When humans are undernourished, they no longer maintain normal bodily functions, such as growth, resistance to infection, or have insufficient drive for every everyday tasks and unsatisfactory performance in school or work.
[107] Important determinants of stunting include the quality and frequency of infant and child feeding, infectious disease susceptibility, and the mother's nutrition and health status.
[119] The harm caused by iron deficiency during child development cannot be reversed and result in reduced academic performance, poor physical work capacity, and decreased productivity in adulthood.
[122] Severe vitamin A deficiency (VAD) for developing children can result in visual impairments, anemia and weakened immunity, and increase their risk of morbidity and mortality from infectious disease.
[127] Exclusive breastfeeding often indicates nutritional status because infants that consume breast milk are more likely to receive all adequate nourishment and nutrients that will aid their developing body and immune system.
[2] However, low birthweight rates are increasing, due to the use of fertility drugs, resulting in multiple births, women bearing children at an older age, and the advancement of technology allowing more pre-term infants to survive.
[2] Wasting is a significant problem in Sahelian countries – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger – where rates fall between 11% and 19% of under fives, affecting more than 1 million children.
[2] In Mali, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Aga Khan Foundation trained women's groups to make equinut, a healthy and nutritional version of the traditional recipe di-dèguè (comprising peanut paste, honey and millet or rice flour).
[2] This region demonstrates that undernutrition does not always improve with economic prosperity, where the United Arab Emirates, for example, despite being a wealthy nation, has similar child death rates due to malnutrition to those seen in Yemen.
[2] Interventions such as women's nutrition, early and exclusive breastfeeding, appropriate complementary food and micronutrient supplementation have proven to reduce stunting and other manifestations of undernutrition.
[148] They emphasized the 1000 days after birth as the prime window for effective nutrition intervention, encouraging programming that was cost-effective and showed significant cognitive improvement in populations, as well as enhanced productivity and economic growth.
[148] This document was labeled the SUN framework, and was launched by the UN General Assembly in 2010 as a road map encouraging the coherence of stakeholders like governments, academia, UN system organizations and foundations in working towards reducing under nutrition.
Produced by Health Canada, the guide advises food quantities, provides education on balanced nutrition, and promotes physical activity in accordance with government-mandated nutrient needs.
It is an interactive educational program designed to help prevent childhood obesity through classroom activities that teach children healthful eating habits and physical exercise.
Proper nutrition during pregnancy plays a vital role in the development of the brain, requiring essential nutrients such as specific lipids, protein, folate, zinc, iodine, iron, and copper.
[165] Malnutrition in older adults is a significant health concern, linked to increased mortality, morbidity, and physical decline, which adversely impacts daily activities and overall quality of life.
[166] In older adults, malnutrition is typically indicated by unintentional weight loss or a low body mass index, though hidden deficiencies, such as those involving micronutrients, are often harder to detect and frequently go unnoticed, especially in community-dwelling seniors.
The challenges in addressing, understanding, identifying, and treating malnutrition is key, noting that in some cases, targeted supplementation of macro- and micronutrients may be necessary when diet alone does not meet age-specific nutritional needs.
This deficiency is often due to insufficient food intake and malabsorption caused by degenerative digestive conditions, as indicated by elevated plasma gastrin levels in older adults.
Multiple factors contribute to iron deficiency in older adults, including reduced food intake, frequent medication use, gastrointestinal malabsorption, and occult bleeding.
In 2020, archeological research discovered a frescoed thermopolium (a fast-food counter) in an exceptional state of preservation from 79 in Pompeii, including 2,000-year-old foods available in some of the deep terra cotta jars.
[191] The Book of Daniel, dated to the second century BC, contains a description of a comparison in health of captured people following Jewish dietary laws versus the diet of the soldiers of the king of Babylon.
[208] With a reputation as the leading organic chemist of his day but with no credentials in animal physiology,[209] von Liebig grew rich making food extracts like beef bouillon and infant formula that were later found to be of questionable nutritious value.
[medical citation needed] In the early 20th century, Carl von Voit and Max Rubner independently measured caloric energy expenditure in different species of animals, applying principles of physics in nutrition.
[214] In the middle of twelve years of attempts to isolate them,[215] Hopkins said in a 1906 lecture that "unsuspected dietetic factors", other than calories, protein, and minerals, are needed to prevent deficiency diseases.
