Essay topics for a Nutrition class

Health and nutrition is the topic that interests most of us, especially with the changing conditions of life. Students pursuing courses in the field of nutrition might require writing essays or research papers on nutrition. Since nutrition, as a subject, is vast and broad it is important to narrow down to an appropriate topic before writing. Below are few topic ideas to help you:

Protein Energy Malnutrition

As per world Health Organization malnutrition is the greatest factor that affects the world public health in a large way. Protein energy malnutrition is a type of malnutrition that refers to insufficient intake of protein. Protein energy malnutrition is harmful always and especially in cases of prenatal protein energy malnutrition, the effects are long lasting. In case of prenatal protein malnutrition, the newborn might suffer from altered fat distribution, decreased weight, increased stress sensitivity, passive stiffness. Protein malnutrition causes loss of tissue and muscle and makes one appear as a skeleton and also causes loss of appetite and loose, dry skin. It also can lead to electrolyte imbalance and heart failure. You can talk about various other effects caused by the protein malnutrition and discuss why it is important for everyone to take adequate protein intake, especially expecting mothers. You can write about the foods that are rich in protein. You can use facts and examples of cases, where rise in protein intake has shown significant improvement in the overall development of the child or person.

Poor nutrition may cause child obesity

For anybody to be healthy, it is important to eat healthy and focus on fitness. But children are more prone to eat foods that lack nutritional values, but are tasty and readily available. Such eating habits cause child obesity, a state of body being overweight than the required weight as per the child's height and age. Poor nutrition impacts the health of children in a large way and the rise in cases of child obesity proves it. Other than food, lack of activity and exercise also cause child obesity. With the changing lifestyle where children prefer video games to outdoor activities and the consumption of fast foods, children are inviting the danger of obesity at an early stage of life. New techniques to be developed to limit the intake of such fast foods by children. The lack of knowledge about the nutritional values of the food that children eat is another reason contributing to the child obesity and it is our prime responsibility that we educate children at an early stage about the importance of nutritional food. You can discuss more reasons causing loss of nutritional intake in children and also talk about the steps or remedies to prevent them. You can also talk about the measures and healthy eating habits that can be inculcated in children to help them stay fit.

Vitamins and their importance

Vitamin is an important nutrient required by human body. There are close to thirteen types of vitamins classified based upon their chemical and biological activity. Broadly, vitamins can be classified as water-soluble or fat-soluble. Usually water-soluble vitamins are not amassed in our body , but fat-soluble vitamins are accumulated in the human body; needless to mention, each and every vitamin plays a different role in human body. Hence, nutrients like vitamins and minerals are required for proper growth in human body and the deficiency of certain vitamins may cause a particular deficiency disease. And these deficiencies are further classified as primary and secondary deficiencies. If a human body is not getting sufficient amount of vitamin intake then it is known as primary deficiency. Other lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol, improper medication etc. might interfere with the use or absorption of vitamins in human body causing secondary deficiency. Vitamin A is one of the most important vitamins and easily available in Orange, leafy vegetables, pumpkin, carrots etc. Deficiency of Vitamin A causes night blindness and sometimes color blindness as well. You can talk and discuss about the benefits of all the other vitamins and also provide the information about the source of the vitamins. Based upon your study and research, you may want to include more facts and figures or examples to detail the importance of vitamins.

Healthy eating habits to improve nutrition

In order to stay fit and healthy, it is imperative that you get a nutritional and balanced diet. With so many changes in lifestyle, many of us are failing to improve the intake of nutritional food. A little planning and change in the choices of food will certainly help us maintain a healthy and nutritious diet. Because we are quite used to our present eating habits, we have to be cautious in making changes to them and should not try to change everything at once. We have to bring in the changes in the eating habits in an organized manner. We all need fats, protein, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins etc. to stay healthy and hence a wide range of foods have to be included in our diet, and the key is to make sure that the intake is balanced and moderate. Include more fresh vegetables and fruits in your diet. Healthy fats to be included and unhealthy fats are to be avoided. The way we eat also has an impact and it's not just what we eat. Eat slowly and eat with others whenever possible, to inculcate healthy eating habits. Eating slowly helps you enjoy the food and also lets you stop when you are full and thus you would never overeat. Eat at regular intervals and do not skip meals. Eat only when you are really hungry and try to avoid eating late at night and that helps you in improving the digestive system. Eating salads and fresh fruits, grains will help you improve the nutrition required by the body and helps you stay healthy and fit. You can discuss various other eating habits and changes in the diet plan to help improve the nutrition.

Below are some more topics you might want to explore:

• Sports and Nutrition
• Nutritional values in traditional foods
• Right to nutrition
• Nutrition to improve immunity