Nutrition

Original Editor - Kris Porter Top Contributors - Shwe Shwe U Marma, Lucinda hampton, Mande Jooste, Kris Porter, Kim Jackson, Olajumoke Ogunleye and Kirenga Bamurange Liliane

 

Introduction

According to the World Health Organization:

"Nutrition is the intake of food considered in relation to the body’s dietary needs. Good nutrition – an adequate, well-balanced diet combined with regular physical activity – is a cornerstone of good health. Poor nutrition can lead to reduced immunity, increased susceptibility to disease, impaired physical and mental development and reduced productivity."

Good nutrition, physical activity, and a healthy body weight are essential parts of a person’s overall health and well-being. Together, these can help decrease a person’s risk of developing serious health conditions, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer. A healthful diet, regular physical activity, and achieving and maintaining a healthy weight also are paramount to managing health conditions so they do not worsen over time.

Healthy Diet Basics

Eat a variety of foods

• Eat a combination of different foods, including staple foods (e.g. cereals such as wheat, barley, rye, maize or rice, or starchy tubers or roots such as potato, yam, taro or cassava), legumes (e.g. lentils, beans), vegetables, fruit and foods from animals sources (e.g. meat, fish, eggs and milk)

Why?

• Eating a variety of whole (i.e. unprocessed) and fresh foods every day helps children and adults to obtain the right amounts of essential nutrients. It also helps them to avoid a diet that is high in sugars, fats and salt, which can lead to unhealthy weight gain (i.e. overweight and obesity) and noncommunicable diseases. Eating a healthy, balanced diet is especially important for young children's and development; it also helps older people to have healthier and more active lives.

Eat plenty of vegetables and fruit

• Eat a wide variety of vegetables and fruit
• For snacks, choose raw vegetables and fresh fruit, rather than foods that are high in sugars, fats or salt
• Avoid overcooking vegetables and fruit as this can lead to the loss of important vitamins
• When using canned or dried vegetables and fruit, choose varieties without added salt and sugars

Why?

• Vegetables and fruit are important sources of vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre, plant protein and antioxidants. People whose diets are rich in vegetables and fruit have a significantly lower risk of obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and certain types of cancer.

Eat moderate amounts of fats and oils

• Use unsaturated vegetable oils (e.g. olive, soy, sunflower or corn oil) rather than animals fats or oils high in saturated fats (e.g. butter, ghee, lard, coconut and palm oil)
• Choose white meat (e.g. poultry) and fish, which are generally low in fats, in preference to red meat
• Eat only limited amounts of processed meats because these are high in fat and salt
• Where possible, opt for low-fat or reduced'fat versions of milk and dairy products
• Avoid processed, baked and fried foods that contain industrially produced trans-fat

Why?

• Fats and oils are concentrated sources of energy, and eating too much fat, particularly the wrong kinds of fat, can be harmful to health. For example, people who eat too much saturated fat and trans-fat are at higher risk of heart disease and stroke. Trans-fat may occur naturally in certain meat and milk products, but the industrially produced trans-fat (e.g. partially hydrogenated oils) present in various processed foods is the main source.

Eat less salt and sugars

• When cooking and preparing foods, limit the amount of salt and high-sodium condiments (e.g. soy sauce and fish sauce)
• Avoid foods (e.g. snacks), that are high in salt and sugars
• Limit intake of soft drinks or soda and other drinks that are high in sugars (e.g. fruit juices, cordials and syrups, flavoured milks and yogurt drinks)
• Choose fresh fruits instead of sweet snacks such as cookies, cakes and chocolate

Why?

• People whose diets are high in sodium (including salt) have a greater risk of high blood pressure, which can increase their risk of heart disease and stroke. Similarly, those whose diets are high in sugars have a greater risk of becoming overweight or obese, and an increased risk of tooth decay. People who reduce the amount of sugars in their diet may also reduce their risk of noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease and stroke.

Nutrition and Physiotherapy

According to American Physical Therapy Association (APTA),

"It is within the professional scope of physical therapist practice to screen for and provide information on diet and nutritional issues to patients, clients, and the community."

Physical therapists/ Physiotherapists are committed to improve and promote wellness, general health, lifestyle and quality of life.

They are well-positioned as established healthcare practitioners, to provide clinically relevant patient education on the long-term health benefits of good nutrition which may include eg behaviour changes to improve their general health and physical therapy outcomes.

To manage a patient as a whole with a holistic approach physiotherapists need to have the basic knowledge about the role of nutrition, as well as understand the effects of a successful behaviour change.

Lifestyle behaviors include:

• Tobacco use/ smoking
• Sedentary lifestyles (inactivity)
• Poor nutritional intake
• Elevated stress
• Sub-optimal sleep
• Obesity

Preventable lifestyle conditions include:

• Ischemic heart disease
• Hypertension
• Stroke
• Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus
• Cancer (some cases)
• Emphysema

Physiotherapist's Role in Providing Specific Nutritional or Dietary Advice

• Patient's diet has an effect on muscle function and muscle function is one of the key concerns in physical therapy practice. Physiotherapists have the scope of knowing the patient's nutritional status which creates an opportunity to refer a patient to nutritionists when needed.

• One randomized trial on patients with osteopenia or osteoporosis found nutrition supplementation in combination with exercise to be more effective in reducing the risk of falling than nutrition alone. Another study suggests multidimensional interventions including nutrition and physical training being effective in reducing frailty in geriatric people.

• Physical therapists/ Physiotherapists without the necessary nutrition-related education are not allowed to give dietary advice, but play a vital role in the screening and referring of patients that are in need of dietary advice or who can benefit from it. Many conditions managed and seen by physiotherapists are directly affected by diet and nutrition.

For More Information on Nutrition

• Sports Nutrition
• Vitamin-B12 Deficiency
• Vitamin-D Deficiency
• Determinants of Health
• Behavior Change
• Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (Free on Netflix) Amazon reviews
• Food Matters (Free on Netflix) Amazon reviews
• Food Inc (Free on Netflix) Amazon reviews
• Forks over Knives (Free on Netflix) Amazon reviews