Nutrition Essentials: A Personal Approach
Unit Outline
UNIT 3
MAKING MORE NUTRITIOUS CHOICES
OVERVIEW
Unit 3 summarizes dietary guidance from the Food and Nutrition Board, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, and U.S. Department of Agriculture. Students will learn about the various components
of Dietary Reference Intakes, how they are established, why they are still evolving, and how to apply
them to diet planning and evaluation. The key recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans
2010 are summarized; MyPlate and other dietary guides are introduced. The components of food and
supplement labels are explained, including the Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts panels, allowable
health claims, structure/function claims, and nutrient content claims. This unit explores the influences of
many ethnic and cultural food patterns on typical American diets.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Module 3.1
1. Define all of the key terms in this module.
2. Differentiate among the various dietary standards of the Dietary Reference Intakes.
3. Identify and apply the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges for carbohydrate, protein,
and fat intakes for adults.
Module 3.2
1. Define all of the key terms in this module.
2. List major food groups and identify foods that are typically classified in each group.
3. List three key components of the Dietary Guidelines, 2010 and provide at least one
recommendation of each component.
4. Use MyPlate to develop nutritionally adequate daily menus.
Module 3.3
1. Define all of the key terms in this module.
2. Use the Nutrition Facts panel to make more nutritious food choices.
3. Identify the types of nutrition-related claims that may be on food labels.
Module 3.4
1. Define all of the key terms in this module.
2. Discuss the benefits and risks of taking dietary supplements.
3. Identify people who should take specific dietary supplements.
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Nutrition Essentials: A Personal Approach
Unit Outline
UNIT OUTLINE
I.
Requirements and Recommendations (Module 3.1)
A. Introduction
1. A requirement can be defined as the smallest amount of a nutrient that maintains a
defined level of nutritional health
2. Your age, sex, general health status, physical activity level, and life cycle stage are
among factors that influence your nutrient requirements
3. Your body stores many nutrients, including vitamin D and the minerals iron and
calcium
4. When your intake of certain nutrients is more than enough to meet your needs, the
body stores the excess
5. As a result of having optimal levels of store nutrient, you may recover more quickly
B. Introducing the DRIs
1. Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) encompass a variety of energy and nutrient intake
standards that can be used to help people reduce their risk of nutrient deficiencies
and excesses, prevent disease, and achieve optimal health
2. An Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) is the amount of the nutrient that meets
the needs of 50% of healthy people who are in a particular life stage/gender group
3. Scientist use EARs for setting nutrient recommendations
4. The Estimated Energy Requirement (EER) is the average daily energy intake that
meets the needs of a healthy person who is maintaining his or her weight
5. The EER takes into account the person’s physical activity level, height, and weight,
as well as sex and life stage
6. The EER is an average figure
7. The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) are standards for recommending
daily intakes of several nutrients
8. To establish an RDA for a nutrient, nutrition scientists add a “margin of safety”
amount to the EAR that allows for individual variations in nutrient needs and helps
maintain tissue stores
9. All few nutrients don’t have RDA because there’s not enough information about
them determine human needs
10. Scientists set Adequate Intakes (AIs) for these particular nutrients by recording
eating patterns of a group of healthy people and estimate the group’s average daily
intake of the nutrient
11. A Tolerable Upper Intake Level (Upper Level or UL) is the highest amount of a
nutrient that’s unlikely to harm most people when the amount is consumed daily
12. The risk of a toxicity disorder increases when a person regularly consumes amounts
of a nutrient that exceed its UL
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manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
Nutrition Essentials: A Personal Approach
Unit Outline
C. Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (AMDRs)
1. Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (AMDRs) indicate ranges of
carbohydrate, fat, and protein intakes that provide adequate amounts of vitamins
and minerals and may reduce the risk of diet-related chronic diseases
2. You can use the AMDRs to determine whether your diet has a healthful balance of
macronutrients
II.
Planning Nutritious Meals and Snacks (Module 3.2)
A. Introducing the Food Groups
1. Food guides classify foods into major groups accordingly to their natural origins an
key nutrients
2. Food guides usually recommend amounts of foods from each group that should be
eaten daily
3. Grains include products made from wheat, rice, and oats
a. Pasta, noodles, crackers, and flour tortillas are members of this group
b. Cornmeal and popcorn are grain products
c. Carbohydrates and protein are the primary macronutrients in grains
d. Whole grains are good sources of micronutrients and fiber
e. Enrichment is the addition of iron and the B vitamins thiamin, riboflavin,
niacin, and folic acid to refined cereal grain products such as flour and rice
f. Fortification is the addition of any nutrient to foods and may restore
nutrition in foods that were lost during processing or provide specific health
benefits
4. Dairy Foods include milk and products made from milk that retain some or most of
their calcium content after processing
a. Dairy Foods are excellent sources of protein, phosphorus, and potassium
and the vitamins A and D
b. Some products have high fat content and little to no calcium and therefore
not classify as dairy foods (cream cheese, cream, butter)
5. Protein-rich foods include beef, pork, lamb, fish, shellfish, liver, and poultry
a. Beans, nuts, tofu, and seeds are included in this group
b. Rich sources of many micronutrients, especially iron, zinc, and B vitamins
c. Animal foods often contain a lot of saturated fat and cholesterol and may
increase the risk of heart and blood vessel disease
6. Fruits include fresh, dried, frozen, sauced, and canned fruit, as well as 100% fruit
juice
a. Fruits are low in fat and good sources of phytochemicals and
micronutrients, especially the mineral potassium and vitamin C and folate
b. Whole or cut-up fruits are healthier options than juices because they
contain more fiber
7. Vegetables
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Nutrition Essentials: A Personal Approach
Unit Outline
a. Vegetables include fresh, cooked, canned, frozen, and dried/dehydrated
vegetables, and 100% vegetable juice
b. They can be grouped into dark green, orange, and starchy categories
c. Vegetables are a good source of micronutrients, fiber, and phytochemicals
and are naturally low in fat and energy
8. Other Foods
a. Dietary guides may include an oil’s group and a group of sugary foods and
alcoholic beverages
b. Oils are often good sources of fat-soluble vitamins and may be sources of
“healthy” fats that don’t increase your risk of cardiovascular disease
c. Solid fats such as beef fat, butter, lard (pork fat), and shortening, are fairly
hard at room temperature and are unhealthy
d. Sugary foods (“sweets”) include candy, regular soft drinks, jelly, and other
foods that contain high amounts of sugar added during processing and are
classified as empty-calories that supply few or no micronutrients for energy
e. Organic foods do not rely on the use of antibiotics, hormones, synthetic
fertilizers and pesticides, genetic improvements, or ionizing radiation
f. Eating organic food may reduce your exposure to pesticides residues and
antibiotic-resistant bacteria
B. How do I Classify Combination Foods?
1. First determine the ingredients and classify each into an appropriate food group
2. Estimate the number of cups or ounces of each ingredient and record the amounts
contributed from a particular food group
C. Dietary Guidelines
1. The Dietary Guidelines are designed to promote adequate nutritional status and
good health, and to reduce the risk of major nutrition-related, chronic health
conditions, such as obesity, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease
2. The guidelines are a set of general nutrition-related lifestyle recommendations that
are intended for healthy people over 2 years of age
3. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010, has two overarching concepts
a. Maintain caloric balance over time to achieve and sustain a healthy weight
b. Focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods and beverages
4. Key components of the dietary guidelines
a. Balancing Calories to Manage Weight
i. Prevent and/or reduce overweight and obesity through improved eating
and physical activity behaviors
ii. Control total caloric intake to manage body weight
iii. Increase physical activity
iv. Maintain appropriate calorie balance during each stage of life
b. Foods and Food Components to Reduce
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Nutrition Essentials: A Personal Approach
Unit Outline
i. Reduce sodium intake to less than 2300 mg per day
ii. Consume less than 10% of calories from saturated fat by replacing them
with unsaturated fat
iii. Keep trans-fat intake as low as possible
iv. Reduce the intake of foods that contain refined grains
v. If alcohol is consumed, is should be consumed in moderation and only
by adults of legal drinking age
c. Foods and Nutrients to Increase
i. Incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet
ii. Eat a variety, especially dark green, red, and orange vegetables, beans,
and peas
iii. Choose whole grains such as whole-grain breads and ready-to-eat
cereals
iv. Choose fat-free or low-fat dairy products such as fat-free milk and lowfat yogurt
v. Choose seafood such as salmon
vi. Choose a variety of protein foods
vii. Replace solid fats with oils, whenever possible
viii. Choose foods that are good sources of potassium, fiber, calcium, and
vitamin D
5. Applying the Dietary Guidelines
a. Table 3.2 provides some ways to incorporate the Dietary Guidelines into
your diet
b. Review the Dietary Guidelines in Action
D. MyPlate
1. MyPlate was introduced by the USDA in 2011 and replaced the “MyPyramid”
interactive dietary and menu planning guide
a. The Web site www.choosemyplate.gov/ includes a variety of food, nutrition,
and physical activity resources for consumers, including children and
pregnant or breastfeeding women
b. “Food-A-Pedia” provides information about specific foods
c. “SuperTracker” allows you to record and monitor your daily diet and
physical activity habits
2. What Are Limits for Empty Calories?
a. The foods and beverages that supply the highest number of empty calories
are cakes, cookies, pastries, doughnuts, soft drinks, sports drinks, fruit
drinks, cheese, pizza, ice cream
b. The empty-calorie allowance is the amount of energy that remains after a
person consumes recommended amounts of foods that contain little or no
solid fats and added sugars
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manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
Nutrition Essentials: A Personal Approach
Unit Outline
c. You can use up your empty calories allowance by choosing foods that
contain high-fat meats instead of high lean meats, add cream cheese to
your bagel instead of eating it plain
d. More information about empty calories can be found at
www.choosemyplate.gov “Weight Management & Calories”
3. Using MyPlate
a. The MyPlate Web site can be helpful for planning menus
b. You can use MyPlate to evaluate the nutritional quality of your daily diet by
recording your food and beverage choices, classifying your choices into food
groups, and estimating your intake of servings from each food groups
4. Other Dietary Guides and Assessment Tools
a. American (“Western”) diet
b. The Mediterranean Food Guide
c. The Asian Diet Pyramid
d. “Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide”
e. What’s in the Food You Eat Search Tool,
www.ars.usda.gov/service/docs.htm?docid=17032
III.
Making Sense of Food Labels (Module 3.3)
A. Nutrition Facts
1. The FDA requires food manufacturers to use a special labeling format, the Nutrition
Facts panel, to display information about the energy and nutrient contents of most
packaged foods
2. The Nutrition Facts panel indicates the amount of a serving size and the number of
servings in the entire container
a. Serving sizes must be consistent among similar foods
b. The panel must provide information about the food’s total fat, specific fats,
cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate, fiber, sugars, protein, vitamin A,
vitamin C, calcium, and iron contents
c. Don’t assume the information applies to the entire package; because you
ate four servings, the panel applies to only one serving
3. Daily Values (DV) were developed by the FDA for labeling purposes and to help
consumers evaluate the nutritional content of food products
a. The adult DV for a nutrient is based on a diet that supplies 2000kcal/day
b. Not all nutrients have DVs; there are not DVs for sugars or trans fat
c. A food that supplies 5% DV or less of a nutrient is a low source of the
nutrient
d. A food that provides 20%DV or more is a high source of the nutrient
e. Try to obtain at least 100% of the DVs for fiber, vitamins, and minerals each
day
f. Consume less than 100% of total fat, cholesterol, and sodium
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manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
Nutrition Essentials: A Personal Approach
Unit Outline
4. Restaurants and similar retail food establishment with 20 or more locations must list
calorie content for standard menu items on menus and boards (Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act of 2010)
5. The FDA permits food manufacturers to include certain health, structure/function,
and nutrient content claims on labels
a. A health claim describes the relationship between a food or food ingredient
and the reduced risk of a nutrition-related condition
b. A structure/function claim descries the role a nutrient plays in maintaining
a structure, such as bone, or promoting a normal function, such as digestion
c. A nutrient content claim descries levels of nutrients in packaged foods
d. To include the term “natural” on a label, the food must not contain food
coloring agents, synthetic flavors, or other manufactured substances
IV.
Should I Take Dietary Supplements?
A. Introduction
1. Many Americans take dietary supplements such as vitamin pills and herbal extracts
because they think they are necessary or helpful
2. A dietary supplement can contain:
a. A vitamin
b. A mineral
c. An herbal or other plant product
d. An amino acid
3. The Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act of 1994 allows manufacturers to
classify dietary supplements as food
4. There is little scientific evidence that supports the usefulness as well as the safety of
taking most nonnutrient dietary supplements, including plant-based products
B. Popular Dietary Supplements
1. Multivitamin/Multiminerals (MV/MM) are the most commonly used dietary
supplements in the US
2. Popular ones include: fish oil or omega-3, glucosamine, Echinacea, flax-seed oil and
pills
3. Every dietary supplement container must be properly labeled
4. The label must include facts about the product’s contents in a specific format (see
Figure 3.11)
5. According to the FDA, dietary supplements are not intended to treat, diagnose,
cure, or alleviate the effects of diseases
a. If the FDA has not reviewed a claim, the label must include the FDA’s
disclaimer indicating the claim has been evaluated by the agency
b. The FDA may question the safety of a dietary supplement or the
truthfulness of claims that appear on product labels
6. A megadose is generally defined as an amount of a vitamin or mineral that is at
least 10 times the recommended amount of the nutrient. Megadoses of:
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manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.
Nutrition Essentials: A Personal Approach
Unit Outline
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
B-vitamin niacin may cause painful facial flushing and liver damage
Vitamin B6 can cause nausea, heartburn, and severe nerve damage
Vitamin C can cause intestinal upset and diarrhea
Vitamin A can cause birth defects and can be deadly
Vitamin D may cause intestinal upsets, weakness, confusion, disorientation,
heart rhythm irregularities, and kidney damage
f. Iron may cause nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, dark-colored
stools, and be deadly, especially of children
g. Calcium may increase the risk of kidney stones
h. Selenium may cause gastrointestinal upsets, hair loss, fatigue, irritability,
and mild nerve damage
7. Herbal Supplements may be made from plants that have toxic parts
a. Comfrey, pennyroyal, sassafras, kava, lobelia, and ma huang are among the
plants known to be highly toxic or cancer-causing
b. Medicinal herbs may contain substances that interact with prescription or
over-the-counter medication as well as other herbs
c. Consult a physician or pharmacist before using any dietary supplement or
giving such products to your children
d. Treat dietary supplements as drugs
C. Should You Take Dietary Supplements?
1. The human body is designed to obtain nutrients and phytochemicals from foods,
not supplements
2. Nutrients and phytochemicals may need to be consumed together to provide
desirable effects in the body
3. Some people take dietary supplements, particularly those containing nutrients,
because the products are recommended by their physician or dietitians
a. Physicians may recommend a special MV/MM supplement of pregnant
patients
b. Older adults and people with chronic diseases may also need supplemental
vitamins because their bodies don’t absorb or use the nutrients normally
4. Healthy adults should consider taking supplements as an “insurance policy” and not
as a substitute for eating a variety of nutritious foods
5. If you use or are thinking about using dietary supplements
a. Discuss your need for the supplement with your physician or dietitian
b. Consult your physician as soon as you develop signs and symptoms of a
serious illness
c. Be wary of claims made about a supplement’s benefit and investigate the
claims used to promote the product
d. Determine hazards associated with taking the supplement
6. The Office of Dietary Supplements Web site: http://ods.od.nih.gov shares
information about the risks and benefits of various dietary supplements
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manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.