Critical Thinking Nutrition and Well being

Critical Thinking
Throughout the life-cycle, nutrition is very important in the wellbeing and health of an individual. In this growing world there’s unavailability of foods with adequate nutrition hence increased malnutrition. In some cases, food can be plentiful but still people suffer from micronutrients deficiency as a result of not having the right amount of micronutrients in what they eat (Boushey et al 15).
Importance of nutrition differs widely for various patient populations as it depends its role in treatment, management and prevention of an ailment or a disability. In many families, people are putting in extra efforts to get information about the best ways to manage the outcomes of the diseases affecting them or their relatives. The society too has an interest in getting the best health outcomes and achieve a healthier long life. There are certain disease groups which have been able to address nutritional issues directly so far. These diseases include COPD and Chron Disease. The disease groups which have nutritional problems should actively take part in developing nutritional products (Boushey et al 18).
Apart from the risks that people face when they lack access to adequate nutrition in their life, there is a greater threat when people’s bodies are being developed at the prenatal stage. The most important period in human life is the preconception period and it is in this stage where reproductive failures emerge from. They include preterm birth, congenital anomalies and low birth weight. Therefore, maternal nutrition has been deemed to be among the main factors influencing the development of a foetus, placenta and the embryo and it may cause long and short term effects. Recently, it has been identified that dietary patterns have a great influence in pregnancy outcomes and maternal malnutrition compared to what had been established about folate and its role in reproduction (Boushey et al 26).
Chronic risk factors are caused by diets which have a high fat content, low carbohydrates, vegetables and fruits as well as a high intake of salt. In Sub-Saharan Africa, diets with low fat content and rich in unrefined carbohydrates are used to protect people from chronic ailments. Nutrition transition is big shifts in the structure of the diet. Changes in the diet of nutrition transition consists of increased intake of fat and sugars, increased consumption of animal products and low intakes of fibre (Steyn and Damasceno 252).
When addressing problems concerning public health, promoting health is very essential. The world is undergoing a ‘triple burden of diseases’ consisting of communicable diseases, re-emerging diseases and the uneven increase no non-communicable chronic diseases. There are factors which boost development of the world. Some of these factors include advanced technologies and urbanization. They can be referred to as double-edged sword because they cause both positive and negative health outcomes. The negative health outcomes are as a result of increase in lavish lifestyles and poor diet habits. There is increased use of tobacco, increased unhealthy dietary practices and reduced physical activity leading to increased biological factors hence increased non-communicable diseases (Kumar & Preetha 2).
Efforts put in health promotion can be geared towards priority conditions of health involving a huge population as well as promoting many interventions. This is an issue-based approach and it will give out the best results if used together with settings-based design. The settings-based design can be established in market, schools, residential areas and workplaces to address the main health issues by considering the compound determiners of health like cultural beliefs and practices as well as behaviors which are in people’s residential and work places. It also aids in integrating health promotion actions to the social functions taking into consideration the local institutions which are already in existence.




















Works Cited
Boushey, C. J., Coulston, A. M., Rock, C. L., & Monsen, E. (Eds.). (2001). Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease. Elsevier. (Boushey et al 15).
Kumar, Sanjiv and Gs Preetha. “Health promotion: an effective tool for global health” Indian journal of community medicine: official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine vol. 37,1 (2012): 5-12.
Steyn, Krisela, and Albertino Damasceno. "Lifestyle and related risk factors for chronic diseases." Disease and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa 2 (2006): 247-265.