Lecture 1- Introduction

Question 1

What is nutrition?

Answer 1

Nutrition is the study of the processes by which an animal or plant takes in food and utilise the nutrients for biological function (for instance, growth, maintenance of tissues, lactation etc.)

Question 2

What is a further definition of nutrition?

Answer 2

A further definition of nutrition is the study of the processes and relationships involved in the conversion of chemicals yielded from food to animal products and body components.

Question 3

Why is nutrition important?

Answer 3

• Approximately 15% of the world population is chronically undernourished.
• much of the world is obese

Question 4

What does malnutrition relate to?

Answer 4

• Mal (bad) nutrition relates both to under-nutrition and over- nutrition. In the Developed world, over-nutrition is the current challenge with obesity being a considerable (if not epidemic scale) problem.

Question 5

Why is animal nutrition important to human society?

Answer 5

• Economics of feeding of animals on a farming enterprise is the greatest cost of production
• Much of our knowledge of human nutrition has been obtained through studies in animal nutrition (pigs in particular)

Question 6

What are the three basic questions in nutrition?

Answer 6

1. What is food (a study of feed composition and chemistry, diet formulation)
2. What happens to food after it is eaten (study of digestive processes)
3. Why is eating necessary - the post absorptive effects of the various nutrients?

Question 7

What is a nutritionist’s approach to diet formulation and ration evaluation?

Answer 7

1. Define production objectives
2. Define starting point and classify the animal (set target growth rates etc.)
3. Estimate nutrient requirements and changes over feeding period (the NRC tables)
4. Identify acceptable and available foods
5. Investigation of feed characteristics (quantities, processing, wastage, storage, cost; animal responses and potential cause disorders)
6. Formulate dietary guidelines
   - level of each dietary component required by the animal to achieve desired level of performance
   - composition of the the individual feedstuffs in terms of their capacity to provide the required nutrients
7. Monitor and revise: weighing, health observations, feed quantities

Question 8

What are the waves of human nutrition interest?

Answer 8

1. 1930s= avoiding deficiencies
2. 1980s onwards= reducing bad foods (salt, saturated fat, cholesterol)
3. 1980s onwards= increasing good foods (fibre, vitamins, phytochemicals, antioxidants, PUFA, omega 3 FA)

Question 9

What are the 4 processes of feed utilisation?

Answer 9

1. Ingestion
2. Digestion
3. Absorption
4. Metabolism

Question 10

Are there any specific requirements for specific feeds for animals?

Answer 10

• no

- don’t have to eat a banana, need the macromolecules in the food

Question 11

Is any feed nutritionally complete?

Answer 11

-no

Question 12

What are the 7 types of nutrients?

Answer 12

1. Water (the forgotten nutrient)
2. Protein ( the building blocks of life)
3. Carbohydrates (basis of energy metabolism 1)
4. Lipids (fat and oils- basis of energy metabolism 2)
5. Vitamins (vital amines)
6. Minerals ( a key element to nutrition)
7. Functional foods (food that influence health)