Saturday 8 February 2020

Overnutrition Malnutrition




While hunger is a tremendous global health concern that cannot be minimized, overnutrition should similarly be addressed as a top priority. Overnutrition is the form of malnutrition that happens when you take in more of a nutrient or nutrients than you need every day. It can develop into obesity, which increases the risk of serious health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancer, and type-2 diabetes.
    Developing countries are facing a double burden caused by coexisting under- and over-nutrition, which causes a change in the disease profile from infectious diseases to a chronic degenerative pattern. The population moves from a traditional diet high in carbohydrates and fiber and low in fat and sugar, to a typical Westernized diet, characterized by a higher intake in energy, saturated fat, sodium, sugar, and low in fiber, and associated with physical inactivity and other unhealthy lifestyle behaviors (e.g., smoking), which increase the risk of obesity, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and ischemic heart disease (IHD). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Non-Communicable Disease (NCD)-related deaths are projected to increase by 15% globally until 2030, with most increases taking place in Africa.
    According to World Health Organization in 2014, more than 1.9 billion 18 years and older adults worldwide were overweight and more than 600 million adults were obese, while 42 million children under the age of five were overweight or obese.  In 2018, the WHO noted that childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges, affecting people in every country in the world.

    Types Of Overnutrition
  • Overnutrition of energy nutrients: It happens when excess energy is consumed more than the body's daily requirements. Over time, it causes weight gain unless daily physical activity is increased. It doesn’t matter if those extra calories come from fat, carbohydrates or proteins, because the body can take whatever it doesn’t need and store it as fat leading to obesity and the many life-threatening conditions associated with it.
  • Overnutrition of micronutrients: It is possible to get too much of most vitamins or minerals, but usually, this happens when mega doses of dietary supplements are taken. Getting too much of micronutrients from food is rare. Micronutrients overnutrition can cause acute poising, like taking too many iron pills at once. The Institute of Medicine has established tolerable upper limits for most micronutrients, but the best way to avoid this type of overnutrition is to stay away from mega doses of dietary supplements unless directed by your healthcare provider.

Factors Contributing to Overnutrition

While many factors including genetics, drugs, and other medical conditions may contribute to obesity, behavior is perhaps the most common contributor. Individual level healthy weight is associated with a healthy diet and regular physical activity. 

Ways of Maintaining Optimum Nutrition

There is no best weight-loss diet. Choose one that includes healthy foods that you feel will work for you. Dietary changes to treat obesity include:
  • Cutting calories. The key to weight loss is reducing how many calories you take in. The first step is to review your typical eating and drinking habits to see how many calories you normally consume and where you can cut back. A typical amount is 1,500 to 1,800 calories for women and 2,000 to 2,400 for men. At the same time, increase physical activity and avoid junk foods, which are foods that are high in calories but have little nutritional value.
  • Dietary changes: Reducing calories and practicing healthier eating habits are vital to overcoming obesity. Although you may lose weight quickly at first, steady weight loss over the long term is considered the safest way to lose weight and the best way to keep it off permanently.
NB: Avoid drastic and unrealistic diet changes, such as crash diets, because they're unlikely to help you keep excess weight off for the long term.
  • Feeling full on less: Some foods —fruits and vegetables provide a larger portion size with fewer calories while foods like desserts, candies, fats and processed foods — contain a large amount of calories for a small portion.  By eating larger portions of foods that have fewer calories, you reduce hunger pangs, take in fewer calories and feel better about your meal, which contributes to how satisfied you feel overall.
NB: Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages is a sure way to consume more calories than you intended, and limiting these drinks or eliminating them altogether is a good place to start cutting calorMake
  • Make healthier choices. To make overall diet healthier, eat more plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole-grain carbohydrates. Also emphasize lean sources of protein — meat, skimmed milk, soy milk, fish etc. Limit salt and added sugar. Eat small amounts of fats, and make sure they come from heart-healthy sources, such as safflower oil,  olive oil, soy oil, canola and nut oils etc.





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