Tamil Nadu HSE First Year Nutrition and Dietetics flashcards

35 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Nutrition

The science of how food and its nutrients act, interact and balance in the body to maintain health and prevent disease, covering intake, digestion, absorption and use.

Dietetics

The application of nutrition science to planning and supervising meals for individuals and groups, including therapeutic diets in hospitals and food service management.

Essential nutrients

Nutrients the body cannot make in sufficient amounts and must obtain from food: nine amino acids, two fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and water.

Macronutrients versus micronutrients

Macronutrients (carbohydrate, protein, fat) supply energy and are needed in gram amounts; micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) supply no energy and are needed in milligram or microgram amounts.

Five food groups

ICMR grouping of cereals and millets, pulses and legumes, milk and meat products, fruits and vegetables, and fats and sugars, used to plan a balanced diet.

Protective foods

Foods rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre, mainly fruits, vegetables and milk, which protect the body from deficiency diseases and infection rather than supplying bulk energy.

Cereal-pulse combination

Combining cereals with pulses in one meal, such as idli with sambar or rice with dal, because cereals are limiting in lysine and pulses in methionine, so together they give better protein quality.

Nutrient density

The amount of essential nutrients a food provides per unit of energy, usually per 100 kcal; green leafy vegetables and pulses are nutrient-dense, sugars and refined fats are not.

Dietary fibre

Non-digestible carbohydrate components of plant foods; soluble fibre lowers cholesterol and slows glucose absorption, while insoluble fibre adds bulk and prevents constipation.

Biological value

The proportion of absorbed protein retained by the body for growth and maintenance; egg and milk have high biological value, cereal proteins are lower.

Kwashiorkor

Protein-energy malnutrition with oedema, low serum albumin, hair and skin changes and poor growth, usually in children aged one to three years after weaning.

Marasmus

Severe protein-energy malnutrition from prolonged energy deficit, showing extreme wasting, weight-for-age below 60 percent of reference and no oedema.

Essential fatty acids

Linoleic and alpha-linolenic acids, which the body cannot synthesise and must obtain from vegetable oils, nuts and seeds; deficiency causes dermatitis and poor growth.

Night blindness

The earliest sign of vitamin A deficiency, in which the eye cannot adapt to dim light because rhodopsin formation in the retina is impaired.

Bitot's spots

Foamy, silvery-grey triangular patches on the conjunctiva caused by vitamin A deficiency, representing an advanced stage of xerophthalmia in children.

Rickets

Vitamin D deficiency in children causing defective bone mineralisation with bow legs, rachitic rosary and delayed fontanelle closure; prevented by sunlight exposure and fortified foods.

Pellagra

Niacin deficiency disease with the four Ds: dermatitis, diarrhoea, dementia and death; seen where maize or polished cereals dominate the diet.

Scurvy

Vitamin C deficiency causing bleeding gums, petechiae, easy bruising, poor wound healing and anaemia; prevented by citrus fruits, amla and sprouted pulses.

Haem versus non-haem iron

Haem iron from meat, fish and liver is absorbed efficiently; non-haem iron from cereals, pulses and greens is absorbed poorly and is inhibited by phytates and tannins.

Basal metabolic rate

Energy expended for involuntary body functions at complete rest, awake, 12 to 14 hours after a meal and in a thermoneutral environment; it is the largest component of daily energy expenditure.

Atwater factors

Energy conversion values of 4 kcal per gram for carbohydrate and protein, 9 kcal per gram for fat and 7 kcal per gram for alcohol, used in diet calculations.

Physical activity factor

A multiplier applied to basal metabolic rate to estimate total energy need: about 1.4 for sedentary, 1.6 for moderate and 1.9 for heavy activity.

Positive energy balance

A state in which energy intake exceeds energy expenditure, so the surplus is stored mainly as body fat, leading to weight gain over time.

Pepsin

A stomach enzyme secreted as inactive pepsinogen and activated by hydrochloric acid; it begins protein digestion by breaking proteins into peptides.

Bile salts

Secreted by the liver and stored in the gall bladder, they emulsify dietary fat into small micelles, increasing the surface area for pancreatic lipase action.

Chylomicrons

Lipoprotein particles formed in intestinal cells from re-esterified long-chain fatty acids and absorbed into lymph rather than portal blood before entering circulation.

Gluconeogenesis

Synthesis of glucose from non-carbohydrate sources such as lactate, glycerol and glucogenic amino acids, mainly in the liver, during fasting or low carbohydrate intake.

Food exchange list

A grouping of foods with similar energy and macronutrient content, so measured portions of one food can replace another without changing the diet's nutrient value.

Balanced diet

A diet supplying adequate energy, all essential nutrients, fibre and water in correct proportion, while being palatable, affordable and culturally acceptable.

Colostrum

The thick yellowish first milk secreted in the first days after delivery, rich in immunoglobulin A, protein, zinc and vitamin A, and important for infant immunity.

Complementary feeding

Introduction of semisolid and solid foods at six months while breastfeeding continues to two years, needed to meet rising energy, iron and zinc requirements.

Danger zone temperature

The range of about 5 to 60 degrees Celsius in which food-borne bacteria multiply rapidly; cooked food should be held above 60 or chilled below 5 degrees.

Aflatoxin

A heat-stable toxin produced by Aspergillus flavus moulds in poorly stored groundnuts and cereals, associated with liver cancer; prevented by proper drying and dry storage.

Stunting versus wasting

Stunting is low height-for-age reflecting chronic undernutrition; wasting is low weight-for-height reflecting acute, recent undernutrition, often during illness or food shortage.

Integrated Child Development Services

India's programme providing supplementary nutrition, immunisation, health check-ups, referral and pre-school education to children under six, pregnant and lactating women.