Discuss How the Components of a Balanced Diet Contribute to an Individuals’ Health at Different Life-Stages.

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The general definition of a balanced diet is food intake that not only includes all the dietary needs of an individual, but includes the required dietary components, e.g. water, carbohydrates, proteins, dietary fibres in the right proportions. A healthy diet includes carbohydrates, proteins, fats, dietary fibre, water, vitamins and minerals - but how much is required of each. A person's dietary needs change as he or she passes through the different stages of life from birth to childhood, to adulthood and eventually later life. Dietary needs change in terms of the amount energy required and the level of nutritional content required at each life-stage. Below is a list of the different life-stages and what each diet might consist of: Newborn babies: Breast milk is the most natural food for newborn babies and provides a "total food" for a baby for up to about the first 6 months of life. In the first 12 months of life a baby's energy requirement can be up to 3 times (200% greater) than the proportional - to size - needs of an a typical adult. Toddlers & Young Children: School children grow quickly and are generally very active. Their energy and nutritional requirements are therefore proportionally (by body mass) greater than those of adults. Young People (Teenagers): Young people experience greater physical development in the form of growth and other changes which can include hormonal changes during teenage years. Their nutritional needs therefore differ from those of adults and are also different from male to female. • Energy requirement may be up to 80% higher than when adult • Protein requirement may be up to 80% higher than when adult • May need more vitamin C than when an adult • Females may have increased requirement for iron • Males may have increased requirement for calcium - for thickening bones Adulthood: The dietary requirements of a

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