In this section we will look at how nutrition can affect our health, what conditions are necessary for people to have good nutritional status and what conditions can lead to poor nutritional status and malnutrition.
We will develop the knowledge necessary for good nutritional status in order to prevent disease and to care for ourselves and our families appropriately.

1- Fundamental conditions for good nutritional status

• The foundation for good physical health is good nutritional status. Nutritional status is directly affected by the foods we eat and their nutrient content. Good nutritional status depends on eating the right amounts and the right variety of safe, good quality foods to meet our individual nutritional needs.

• Food provides the energy and nutrients needed to support all body functions, maintain good health and carry out everyday activities. Food contains many ingredients, called nutrients, which help the body function well. Foods are complex mixtures of different components, providing varying amounts of the nutrients the body needs. Most nutrients cannot be produced by the body and must be taken in adequate amounts from the food we eat in order to be healthy and prevent disease. No single food contains all the nutrients needed by the body in the right amounts; one food may be rich in one or two nutrients, but low in other essential nutrients. It is only by eating adequate amounts of a variety of foods that we can help ensure that we will take in the right amounts of the nutrients needed for good health and nutritional status.

• Equally important is access to food that ensures good nutritional status. For example, if local shops and markets do not offer a good variety of foods, if people cannot afford the food that is available, if their diets lack the variety needed for all of the essential vitamins or minerals, if adequate food is not available in all seasons and all year long, or if food is spoiled, contaminated or unsafe to eat, people will not have the food they need for good nutritional status.

2- Malnutrition : poor nutritional status

When we eat, we consume three types of macronutrients in large quantities: fats, proteins and also sugars and starches, both of which are classified as carbohydrates.
We also consume nutrients in smaller quantities: minerals and vitamins, also called micronutrients.
Nowadays, with intensive farming methods, transportation and storage times between harvesting and consumption, and refinement processes, our food is very depleted in micronutrients.
The energy intake in macronutrients and therefore in calories is maintained, but our food is depleted in micronutrients.
This is called empty calories and our modern diet is full of them, which is the cause of many deficiencies that can lead to disease.

Your mission :

1- Summarise in infographic form the rules for a good nutritional status and the consequences of an unbalanced food intake. Differentiate problems caused by "undernutrition" and "overnutrition".

2- From the data available on this website, each partner country will have to

• present in graphic form the data on the nutritional status of children and adolescents as well as adults in 2020
• students will be able to calculate their BMI and compare it to the data for their own country
• make a conclusion by comparing with partner countries

Module 7 : Dimensions of health

Module 7 : Eating habits and healthy diets