Nutrition: Macro and Micro Nutrients

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NMDF121 Foundations of Human Nutrition Assessment 1: Essay 20% Student Number: #243335 Word Count: 1077 “Optimum nutrition is needed for optimum health” our understanding of what ‘health’ is and the role in which nutrition plays in achieving better health is constantly changing and evolving. This essay will discuss the role nutrition plays in an individuals overall health in contemporary society. What is optimum health? The World Health organisation defines it as “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” (World Health Organisation, 2015) This multi-faceted approach to ones ‘health’ takes into consideration a range of factors, nutrition has been shown to contribute to both the physical and mental state of a person, but what are the parameters of nutrition? What specific macro and micro-nutrients, and in what amount, equal ‘optimum nutrition’? What is considered Optimum nutrition? For adults, optimum nutrition is defined as “the amount of protein, that stimulates whole body protein synthesis maximally (1.7 g/kg actual body weight) and covers anabolic energy need (35 kcal/kg actual bodyweight)” as stated in (Jonkers et.al 2001). Scientists, conducting and analysing large

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