DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATIC UNIVERSITI PENDIDIKAN SULTAN IDRIS

Food Science and Nutrition SBK3023

Title: Factors Influence the Nutrient Intake for Human Lecturer: Dr. Hasimah binti Alimon Group Members: Name Hairieyl Azieyman Bin Azmi Heng Tiger Muhammad Shamim Bin Zulkefli Ng Seng Wei Mohamad Arif Bin Nasaruddin Matrix Number D20101037426 D20101037446 D20101037460 D20091035105 D20091035123

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE NUTRITION INTAKE IN HUMAN There are a lot of factors that can affect the nutrition intake in human. Here are some factors that we want to highlight. The quality and quantity of food that human take. The quality of food can be determine based on the external factor such as appearance (size, shape, colour, gloss, and consistency), flavor; texture and internal factors such as chemical, physical and microbial of food. Chemicals added to the crops and livestock can influence the quality of food that we usually take. Excessive use of pesticides for vegetable plantation can decrease the quality of vegetable and lead to decrease the nutrition value in human if we consumed it as food. The examples of pesticides that can be used in agriculture are dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT)-used to kill insects-, acetylcholinesterase inhibitor used to kill snails-, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) used to kill unwanted plants- and many more. The excessive use of these pesticides can contaminate the agricultural based food product. When this contaminate food enter our body system, it can lead the formation of the free radical particles. Free radicals are unstable atoms or groups of atoms that contain at least one unpaired electron. Free radicals can attack healthy cells because another atom or molecule can bond to it easily since it contains unpaired electron. A chemical reaction will take place and may damages that healthy cell. This can lead to cancer and initiate other serious disease. So, it is clear that the low quality of food that we consumed can decrease our nutrition intake. In the other hand, quantity of food may be referring to the source of food. Malaysia is a country which has equatorial climate, being hot and humid throughout the year which is good for agriculture activities. But, Malaysia still cannot produce enough rice and other food products to supply the country since Malaysia is populated with hills and does not have strong temperature climate. But, we still manage to settle this problem by importing food from other countries. Besides that, Malaysia is bounded by water, including the South China, Sulu, and Celebes seas, and the Strait of Malacca. So, these enable fishery activities can take place effectively and provide us with mass food resources. Thus, Malaysians can have a perfect nutrient content if we take a balance diet. Compare to Somalia, which currently suffer from great drought that limited their food source. That is why most of Somalias people do not a perfect nutrient needed by body and lead to malnutrition.

Age As we human grow, the nutrition that we take daily will eventually change to suit our condition and growing process. This is due to the aging factor that the person is experiencing where the needs for the nutrients are changing from time to time. As for infant that was born, they only feed on milk and lactation. This is because they acquired most their nutrients from breastfeeding. The mothers milk is the best nutrition for baby because they dont have any teeth yet to chew solid food and mothers milk contains the nutrients baby needed and it also enriched with antibodies that supplied from the mother. While for children and adolescents, they need more nutrients to supply adequate essential energy because at this phase they are having rapid change in body size due to the rapid development of muscle and formation of bone. Puberty also contribute to the increase on nutrients intake to complete maturation process and grow. While for the adults, they are having slower growth rate and this to repair any tissues and thus they maintaining their nutrients intake. As for the old people, they are mostly focusing in a healthy diet and focus on intake of vitamin and other nutrients due to the loss of lean body mass. Environments Weather Environment factor is one of factors that affecting peoples nutritional intake is. We are focusing more on the weather itself. People are more likely to consume more food during the cold rather than hot weather. So, we will tend to eat more during the cold season, for us in Malaysia probably in raining season. This is because of the body need to maintain the bodys temperature to let the bodys to function well. In order the body to achieve that, the body need more energy from food and more likely carbohydrate-rich food like rice, bread and else to keep the bodys core at the optimum temperature. However, when its come to hot weather, our body needs to be cooled and maintain. Therefore, more liquids must be taken in order to keep our body sweat to cool it down. Occupation and Physical Activities Nutrients give the energy that need to perform the daily activities of living. Food may contain a few or many nutrients and each nutrient has specific uses in the body. The amount of energy used by the body is the energy expenditure and this varies widely from individual to individual. In this case the factors that influence the nutrition taken by human are according to

occupation and physical activities. This is because when we do more work than our body requires more energy to keep our bodies still in healthy condition. Workers like coal miners, steel workers, forestry workers, army recruits, builders laborers and athletics need more food that contains more nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein and fats. Those classes of food important to give energy that required to sustain the function of the body such as physical work, maintenance, respiration and circulation. Energy comes from the food eaten and released in the body to yield the chemical energy needed to sustain metabolism, nerve transmissions and circulation. In addition, occupations are classified according to how active they are workers. Sedentary work like office workers, clerical tasks, pilots, lawyer and teachers need less of energy requirement and different types of nutrition they need to take. This is because their job does not require a lot of energy to do work. It is important that meals for very active jobs to provide sufficient energy, and it is advisable to supply about one third of third of the energy in the form of fat as carbohydrates food tend to be bulky and would therefore be difficult to digest while working actively. Extra water and sodium chloride should be taken if work is carried out in a hot atmosphere. EMOTIONAL FACTORS The very young infant will generally cry until fed but by four or five months of age may stop crying when he hears his mothers footsteps or sees that the formula is being prepared, presumably having learned to anticipate and to wait for the relief of hunger pain. In later life, the period of tantalizing anticipation before a meal may actually be considered pleasurable, The repetitive cycle of nutritional and emotional gratification during infancy becomes further associated with the person giving the food, usually the mother, so that being loved and fed come to be associated in the mind of infant. Research has proved that the rate of secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach of a 15-month-old girl with gastric fistula was shown to increase during period of social contact with a loved person and to decrease when approached by a stranger. As a conclusion, these factors are vital for your nutrient intake. Choose a good diet because you are what you eat.

References Anita Tull, 1987. Food and Nutrition.Oxford University Press. Jeannette Brakhane Endres, Robert E. Rockwell, Cynthia Gurdian Mense, 2004. Food, Nutrition and The Young Child. Ohio:Pearson Prentice Hall Volpe S.L, Sabelawski S.B, Mohr C.R, (2007). Fitness Nutrition for Special Dietary Needs . Human Kinetics : United States of America Child Carolyn (2001) Food and Nutrition in The Early Years. Hodder & Stoughton : Britain Mead, M: Dietary patterns and food habits.J.Amer.Diet, Ass, 19:1, 1943. Stewart Hare(2005). Factors that affect the nutritional requirements of an individual. Obtain on September 21, 2010 from http://stehar.searchwarp.com/swa21903.htm. .