FN 225: Nutrition
Noy Rathakette, Ph.D.
Health Professions Division
Lane Community College
Eugene, Oregon
EXAM RESULTS-
  • Scores on Exam 3 will be posted by Monday as well as what your score is in this class after Exam 3.

  • Friday of Week 8 is the LAST Day to make changes in your schedule.

  • Near the end of the Study Questions for Chapter 8 you are asked to take a look again ONLINE at the diet analysis you did at the beginning of the term.  If you can't remember the date you did it, go to page 31 in your packet and see if you wrote it down near the bottom of the page.
FORUM for Week 8:
  1. Go to Michael Pollans's website http://michaelpollan.com and click on the image of his new book In Defense of Food.  What you will then see is what is on the inside jacket of the book.  (You will also be given the option of reading the Introduction to the book.)

    What is ONE thing you read there that is interesting or thought-provoking? OR
    What is ONE other thing you read in the book that is interesting or thought-provoking, if you've already read the book?

  2. Go to the Week 8 FORUM topic called Sodium and High Blood Pressure and read the links there.  Study Shows New Link Between Salt Sensitivity and Risk of Death, National Institutes of Health Press Release, February 15, 2001.

    The other is in week 8 and it is called "Sodium in Your Diet". It's an excerpt from a 2008 book by Ellyn Satter called Secrets of Feeding A Healthy Family.

    After reading both links, what do you think     of what Ellyn Satter has to say in this excerpt (Sodium in Your Diet)?


LECTURE 8A: Vitamins & Minerals- part 2
During Week 7, we looked at the first 4 NUTRICHARTS:
  • NUTRI-CHART 1: Nutrients Involved that can be ANTIOXIDANTS.
  • NUTRI-CHART 2: Nutrients Involved in CERTAIN SPECIALIZED CELLS/TISSUES
  • NUTRI-CHART 3: Nutrients Involved in ENERGY METABOLISM
  • NUTRI-CHART 4: Nutrients Involved in BLOOD HEALTH

During Week 8, we'll look at the last 2 NUTRICHARTS.


NUTRI-CHART 5 lists the Nutrients Involved in FLUID & ELECTROYTE BALANCE
    
As discussed during Week 1, water is one of the 6 categories of nutrients.  The others were
  • carbohydrates
  • proteins
  • fats
  • vitamins and 
  • minerals
NUTRICHART 5 starts with water, giving just a few of the functions of water in our body, such as keeping substances dissolved so they can be transported throughout our body in our blood and lymph.  Water also helps maintain body temperature at about 98.6.  When our body temperature goes too far above that, proteins get denatured so our cells can't function.

A pale yellow urine indicates that the body probably has enough water to accomplish these tasks.

Both too much water and too little can be a problem.  Too much water dilutes sodium, which you can see below is an important electrolyte.   As you can also see on this page, electrolytes have vital roles nerve response and muscle contraction.

Too little water is especially dangerous for infants and the elderly, as the chapter discusses.

Problems from too little water often come from what you drink instead of water, like soft drinks and juice.  Sugar in soft drinks and juice is a solute that draws water out of cells, dehydrating them.  The salt in fast foods, snacks and soups is also a solute that draws water out of cells, dehydrating them.

As the JUST RIGHT column says for NUTRI-CHART 5, ELECTROLYTES
Help regulate:
•    Fluid balance
•    Nerve response
•    Muscle contraction

So these 3 bullets are functions of all of the electrolytes on the chart.

Important electrolytes include
  • sodium (Na),
  • potassium (K),
  • chloride (Cl) and
  • phosphorus (P). 
You can write these abbreviations in the blanks below their name on page 98 of your packet.

Can you find each of those 4 on the Periodic Table below?




As the NUTRI-CHART says, sodium in the body helps regulate water in fluid compartments by being part of the sodium/potassium "pump".  By being part of this "pump", sodium helps keep the correct amount of water OUTside cells.  

Too much sodium in the body can contribute to hypertension if a person is among the  people with hypertension who are salt sensitive.  The NIH (National Instiute of Health) estimates the 56% of people with high blood pressure are salt sensitive.

Sodium may cause calcium excretion in some people.

Potassium helps keep the correct amount of water INside cells, by being part of the sodium/potassium "pump".  Without this water, cells collapse and can't function.  
Too little potassium in the body can be caused by abuse of what can be called the 3Ps.
  • Laxatives make you.................. poop.
  • Diuretics make you.................. pee. 
  • And emetics make you.................. puke.

Now watch "Video Clip 1: Electrolytes" below.

Video Clip 1: Electrolytes
approximately 8 minutes
If the movie isn't showing up on your computer, you may not have the latest version of QuickTime on your computer.  Click here to download the newest version of Quick Time.

The above Video Clip mentions a "Rule of Thumb" regarding sodium inttake.  Disregard that "Rule of Thumb".

Here's a little 2-minute animation from McGraw-Hill called: How the Sodium Potassium Pump Works. 

It mentions ATP, which we will talk about in Week 10.  If you haven't learned about it in another class, ATP stands for adenosine triphosphate and it is the major 'currency' of energy in the body. It is not energy itself, but rather temporarily "stores" energy in its phosphate bonds. When the third phosphate bond is broken and energy is released that can fuel the metabolic chemical reactions required by living organisms.  Some think of ATP as a battery that once charged, it can set off a spark of energy that can be used to do work in the body.
 

NUTRI-CHART 6 lists the Nutrients Involved in BONE HEALTH.

As you can see at the top of this page, bone health depends on many factors, including
  • genes
  • sun exposure
  • exercise
  • not smoking and
  • hormonal levels (estrogen/testosterone)
Most people know that calcium has something to do with strong bones.  But bone health depends on many more minerals than just calcium, including magnesium (Mg), fluoride (Fl), manganese (Mn), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K).  can you find each of those minerals on the Periodic Table below?




The macronutrient protein is also important for strong bones because crystals form around a matrix made of protein (collagen).  High protein diets can promote calcium excretion as can the mineral sodium.  Both protein and sodium are often high in American diets, which is not a good situation for bones, especially considering the diet might also be low in calcium.

Common American diets might also be low in 2 vitamins important for bones-
vitamin D and vitamin K. (Remember that vitamin K is not the same thing as the mineral potassium, abbreviated with a K.)  Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium and vitamin K helps make osteocalcin, a protein associated with bone matrix remodeling.

Video Clip 2: Bone Health Part 1
approximately 6 minutes
If the movie isn't showing up on your computer, you may not have the latest version of QuickTime on your computer.  Click here to download the newest version of Quick Time.

The next Video Clip will help you fill in a remaining blank on page 99 (in the phosphorus section),
Video Clip 3: Bone Health Part 2
approximately 8 minutes



Page 101 in your packet lists food sources of vitamins and minerals, including those that help with bones, such as calcium.  Canned salmon is listed as a source of calcium, while fresh salmon is not listed.  This is because the high heat used in the commercial canning process pulverizes the bones so they can be eaten.

Some foods are fortified with bone-building nutrients, like the soy milk and orange juice shown below.









Parsley is a natural source of vitamin K, also important for bone health.  Parsley is also rich in beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, which is also important for bone growth.


The above display at a Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. (in the late 1980s) said:
Young animals must grow, and the length and size of bones must grow with them.  Bone is a living substance. continually being eroded, reforming, and growing.  Long bones, such as those in the legs of mammals, need a special way to increase their length.  Each bone consists of a bony cap (epiphysis) and a long shaft (diaphysis).  Between these is a layer of cartilage continually growing and being replaced by bone, thus lengthening the bone.  The bone increases in diameter by deposition of bone on its outer surface and complementary erosion of bone on its inner surface.

This process is dependent upon vitamin A.


Fluoride is on the NUTRI-CHART for BONE HEALTH.  For more information on fluoride, watch the last Video Clip.

Video Clip 4: Fluoride
approximately 8 minutes
If the movie isn't showing up on your computer, you may not have the latest version of QuickTime on your computer.  Click here to download the newest version of Quick Time.




Fluorosis
(white spots from too much fluoride)


Beth's daughter (the one on the left) with her fluoride-hardened, cavity-free teeth that do not have white spots.

Two other nutrients on the BONE HEALTH NUTRI-CHART on page 99 include phosphorus and potassium.  There is some evidence that cola consumption may lead to lower bone density in older women possibly by replacing bone calcium with phosphoric acid, an ingredient not found in most other non-carbonated beverages.


END of Lecture 8A