Dr. (PhD)

Tarig Mohammed Gibreel

Department of Natural Resource EconomicsCollege of Agricultural and Marine Sciences

Sultan Qaboos University

Department of Natural Resource EconomicsCollege of Agricultural and Marine Sciences

Sultan Qaboos University

MODULE 1 continued

Calories and Protein: Calories and fooddreived from food and are both necessary forgrowth, health, activity and survival.

Nutritional Role of Calories and Proteins:calories are a measure of the energycontained i food. The body needs them for:

Involuntary functions.

Physical activities.

Mental activities.

Fighting disease.

Growth.

The human body use 20 amino acid to build

millions of different proteis.

Proteins Functions:

necessary for building the cells that make up the

muscles, membrances, cartilage, and hair.

Carry oxygen throughout the body.

Contribute to the development of antibodies that

fight disease.

Carry nutrients into and out of cells and help

assimilate food.

Work as enzymes that speed.

Chapter 4: How can we measure the

extent of undernutrition in a group?

In a country, or city, or a village we need to

assess the undernutrition, is it rare or

common-place?

Identification of the problem is most serious

and important issue. Why?

Because, resources for coping with

undernutrition are scarce, they must be

spent wisely.

Measuring Undernutrition

To define the nutritional

problem of the targeted

population,

it is necessary to measure its

nutritional status.

Nutritional status assessments

enable to determine whether

the individual is well-nourished

or undernourished.

ASSESSMENTof the nutritional situation in target

population

ACTIONbased on the

analysis & available resources

Source: UNICEF, Triple-A Cycle

ANALYSIS

of the causes of the

problem

1. Biochemical testing and

2. Clinical examination

3. Dietary assessment and

4. Anthropometric

measurement

Measuring Undernutrition

1. Biochemical testing and

2. clinical examination can

contribute to diagnosing

micronutrient deficiencies.

The most common deficiencies are:

Iodine,

vitamin A, and

iron

During emergencies:

scurvy (a vitamin C deficiency),

beri-beri (vitamin B 1 deficiency),

and

pellagra (vitamin B 3 deficiency).

3. Dietary assessment

Dietary surveys are often employed to assess

nutritional status. Two approaches are used:

1. dietary recall, in which the subject is asked to

remember what he/she ate, such as past 24 hours, or

the past 7 days. And

2. dietary records, in which someone records the

amount of food consumed at mealtimes, often by

weighing it.

Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages.

(see pages: 38 39)

4. ANTHROPOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS

What is Anthropometry? It is the science of measuring

the human body and its parts.

Anthropos - "man and Metron "measurement

A branch of anthropology that involves the quantitative

measurement of the human body.

Nutritional Anthropometry: Measurement of the

variations of the physical Dimensions & the gross

composition of the human body at different age levels

and degrees of nutrition - Jellife (1966)

It is used to evaluate both under & over nutrition.

The measured values reflects the current nutritional

status & dont differentiate between acute & chronic

changes

Use of Anthropometry

Individual Level

SCREENING: ONE TIME ASSESSMENT

to immediately decrease case fatality (emergency

situations)

in non-emergency situations

GROWTH MONITORING: TREND ASSESSMENT

Population Level

ONE TIME ASSESSMENT

under circumstances of food crisis

for long-term planning

NUTRITIONAL SURVEILLANCE (Watch): TREND

ASSESSMENT

for long-term planning

for timely warning

for programme management

Individual Level

SCREENING: ONE TIME ASSESSMENT

to immediately decrease case fatality (emergency

situations)

in non-emergency situations

GROWTH MONITORING: TREND ASSESSMENT

Population Level

ONE TIME ASSESSMENT

under circumstances of food crisis

for long-term planning

NUTRITIONAL SURVEILLANCE (Watch): TREND

ASSESSMENT

for long-term planning

for timely warning

for programme management

Steps of Anthropometry Measurement

Technique of measuring people

MEASUREMENTS

- Using Anthropometric Instruments

2. Compare to REFERENCE

VALUES / STANDARDS

- National & International

3. Make a determination of

nutritional status :

3.1 INDICES

- Computed

-Age dependent/Independent

3.2 CLASSIFICATIONS

- Grading of Nutritional Status

Measure

Index

Indicator

Reference

Information

10

Anthropometric Parameters

Basic measurements

Height (length)

Weight (mass)

Skin-fold thickness

BMI

(Waist/Hip) ratio and

Mid-arm circumference (MAC)

Same age girls

Weight : - Total Body mass

- Simple, widely used

- Sensitive to small changes in nutrition

Height: - Genetically Determined

- Environmentally influenced

- Stunting Reflects chronic undernutrition

MUAC (Mid-Upper Arm Circumference):

- Reflects muscle/fat

- Easy to measure, used for quick screening

- Independent of age (1-5 years)

FFT Food For Thought:

- Measures body fat

- Correlates well with total body fat 12

Nutritional Anthropometry

Advantages & Disadvantages of Anthropometry

Advantages

Simple & Safe procedures

Inexpensive, portable, durable equipment

Little training

Precise & accurate methods

Info generated on past long-time nutritional history, not possible with other tech. with equal confidence.

Disadvantages

Relatively insensitive method & cant detect disturbances in nutritional status over short period of time or identify specific nutrient deficiency.

Unable to distinguish disturbances in growth or body composition induced by nutrient(Zn) def. from those caused by imbalances in P&E intake.

Impact of Undernutrition on Physical Growth

and Development

Undernutrition physical effects appears in the

individuals body size, thus we have to

distinguish between two types of

undernutrition:

Acute undernutrition: is short-term,

severely inadequate food intake (during

famine & war).

Chronic undernutrition: is long-term

inadequacy of protein or calories or both,

and causes physical effects even when the

inadequacy is moderate.

Undernutrition physical effects appears in the

individuals body size, thus we have to

distinguish between two types of

undernutrition:

Acute undernutrition: is short-term,

severely inadequate food intake (during

famine & war).

Chronic undernutrition: is long-term

inadequacy of protein or calories or both,

and causes physical effects even when the

inadequacy is moderate.

The physical effects of undernutrition manifest in various ways:

1. Low Height-for-Age, or Stunting: is a sympton of past undernutrition, the person may or may not be undernourished today.

2. Low Weight-for-Height, or Wasting: is a symptom of current undernutrition. People exhibit low weight-for-height, or wasting.

3. Low Weight-for-Age, or Underweight: is symptom of either past or present undernutrition, and individuals are reffered to as underweight.

Reading assignment

What is a balanced protein?

How many amino acids does the body needs?

Is the body able to produce all the needed amino acids?

What are the sources of the amino acid?

What is the diference between a person living on adeit of beans,

another living on wheat and a third living on combination of beans

and wheat?

How much of a nutrients is enough? And how many calories does

human body need?

Which is the bigger problem: Protein Deficiency or Calories

Deficiency?

Hint: read pages 28 to 35 from your Text Book The World Food

Problem

How can the nutritional status of large groups measured? And why

do we need to measure nutritional status of large group? pages 51

54

Reading assignment

What is a balanced protein?

How many amino acids does the body needs?

Is the body able to produce all the needed amino acids?

What are the sources of the amino acid?

What is the diference between a person living on adeit of beans,

another living on wheat and a third living on combination of beans

and wheat?

How much of a nutrients is enough? And how many calories does

human body need?

Which is the bigger problem: Protein Deficiency or Calories

Deficiency?

Hint: read pages 28 to 35 from your Text Book The World Food

Problem

How can the nutritional status of large groups measured? And why

do we need to measure nutritional status of large group? pages 51

54