Assessment on Diet Comparison to Guidelines and Nutrient Analysis

Learning Outcomes being assessed

This assessment will assess the following learning outcomes, and will contribute 25% to the final grade:

1. Identify and apply the basic concepts of the sciences relating to the human body and its physiological systems
2. Identify macronutrients and micronutrients and elements of nutrition and explain how they contribute to human health

The assignment involves comparing the diet of a “real” person living in Aotearoa/New Zealand to guidelines; it is not about achieving an ideal diet.  The authenticity of your record opens up ways to answer the questions, and gives insight into your own nutritional status and the nutrition issues of wh?nau and the wider community that can be carried into nursing practice.

1. Keep a “food diary” for your typical 24 hour day. Notes on how to do this are in the BN510509 Lab Manual.

2. Enter the foods recorded into a programme that will supply the mass (g, mg, mcg) of the nutrients in the day’s intake. Examples of programmes you could use include:
   • http://www.myfoodrecord.com/
   • http://explorefood.foodafactoflife.org.uk/
   • https://cronometer.com/

3. Use the resulting data to complete the tasks below.

1a) Preliminary: Insert the list of foods from your “food diary” for your typical 24 hour day, kept using the guidelines in the BN510509 Lab Manual.

1b) Insert an analysis of this food list showing the specified nutrients. This can be created using an online package such as “Explorefood” or “Cronometer”.

1c) Confirm the “food diary” is attached. Assignments without a food record become an unmarked fail, which will need to be resubmitted for a maximum of 50% of available marks.

Confirm this food record is close to typical by checking the analysis shows an energy value of at least 5000kJ. Low kilojoule records will also become an unmarked fail, which will need to be resubmitted for a maximum of 50% of available marks.

2a)      Refer to the “Summary of Eating and Activity Guidelines for New Zealand Adults”

https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/eag-summary.pdf

Discuss how your food choices for the day compare to these guidelines. Include ways you meet the guidelines and possible improvements you could make.

2b) Find a “recommended servings” image (such as a food pyramid) that aligns with your cultural tastes, e.g. Thai cuisine or philosophy, e.g. pescatarian diet.

Discuss how your recorded food choices for the day compare with this pyramid. Include ways you meet the guidelines and possible improvements you could make.

3a) Use your analysis and the following link to complete this section.

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/tools/energy-needs-kilojoules-calculator 

Scroll down for the note about entering your ideal weight

Seek advice from a staff member to accommodate pregnancy or lactation

Your recommend energy intake: ____________kJ

Actual energy intake from analysis: ____________kJ

Based on these figures, if this were a typical day’s intake, would you expect to:(highlight the correct response)

gain weight stay the same weight lose weight

In reality are you (highlight the correct response):  gaining weight staying the same weight losing weight

3b) Discuss the validity of using your single day’s analysis to draw conclusions about energy intake and weight gain/loss/maintenance.  How realistic was this for you; What does the literature say about the validity of self-reported dietary records?

4a) Complete the tables below for the ten selected vitamins and minerals.

For each nutrient:

• enter the RDI for your age and gender  or special dietary need (eg pregnancy, lactation) from the “Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand” found at https://www.nrv.gov.au/nutrients(online version) or http://www.moh.govt.nz/NoteBook/nbbooks.nsf/0/FD14C5E898B74265CC2574BE007DACF6/$file/n35.pdf (pdf version)

• enter your own intake from the analysis of your diet
• Indicate whether you are meeting the daily requirement for each nutrient on the day the record was made. (yes / no)
• Briefly describe the role of the nutrient in the body (function)
• Determine the food sources of the nutrient in your food list. If you have no obvious food sources for any vitamin or mineral, add the most common sources of the nutrient for others in New Zealand.
• Name any deficiency disorders that exist for the nutrient, and / or the signs symptoms. Indicate early indicators, if any, of deficiency with a
• For sources, functions and deficiency, a short list or note form is OK
• Use at least two additional academicreferences for this section, (please reference these).
• 3 marks per nutrient

5a) Gather data on the macronutrients in your day’s food intake in the table below, then fill in the comparison columns with a brief comment such as “close to recommended”, “under recommended” etc.

Two ways to look at macronutrient intake are your intake amount in grams and the percentage that each of the nutrients contributed to your total energy that day. Each one has recommended values.

• Your Intake Amount (g)comes from the analysis of your food intake.
• A spreadsheet named “Calculator to Support Nutrition Assignment” is available on the Moodle site to calculate your Recommended Intake (g),Energy from this nutrient (kJ)and the percentage that each of the nutrients contributed to your total energy that day (% Energy from this nutrient)  
• The energy in a gram of each macronutrient Energy (kJ/g)is also found in that spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet calculates RDI for carbohydrate and protein from body weight, with considerations for special states such as lactation and body building. RDIs for the fat groups are calculated as a percentage of daily energy need, so use your recommended energy intake from section 3a in the spreadsheet.