HM's Food & Wine Magazine » Nani Hari Kansakar

Nutrition for Elderly People

Nani Hari Kansakar — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:47:36 +0000

Ageing brings significant physiological changes in the body and these changes influence appreciably in the nutritional requirements. Therefore geriatric nutrition deals with the nutritional requirements of the old people. Some physiological changes in ageing are discussed briefly.

Reduced cellular metabolism: Studies have shown that there is a noteworthy decrease in the metabolism tissues as a result of aging. Hence there is a reduction in the basal metabolic rate.

Nervous system: As a result of ageing the following changes in the nervous system occur.
a)    Decrease in reaction time
b)    Decrease in the memory power and rate of learning
c)    Changes in the behavior and
d)    Dimness of vision

Skeletal System and Teeth: Demineralization of bone has been observed commonly in aged people. This condition is known as Osteoporosis. Clinical studies have indicated increased calcium requirements for aged persons. Loss of teeth due to decay of teeth and gum in common.

Gastrointestinal Track: Decreased secretion of saliva and decreased ability to digest starch has been observed in old people. Gastric acidity decreases in a large percentage of old people. Peptic, tryptic, amylolytic and lipolytic enzyme activities in the digestive system are decreased. Changes in the intestinal mucosa result in reduced absorption of nutrients in old people.

Cardiovascular System: Increase in the incidence of atherosclerosis has been observed in the elderly people. Changes in the character of heart muscle and coronary arteries lead to less efficient functioning of the heart.

Renal System: Kidney function tests carried out in old people have indicated a diminished functioning of the kidneys.

Integumental System: Changes in the face or appearance of the skin, hair and nails are the most familiar indices of advancing age. Decreased elasticity of the skin is the most common character of old age.

Endocrine System: Marked changes in the endocrine glands take place as a result of ageing. Activities of endocrine glands like thyroid, adrenal cortex and islets of langerhans are diminished. This influences the metabolism cells. The basal metabolic rate is notably reduced in old persons.

Nutritional Requirements:
The nutritional requirements for old people are discussed as follows:-

Calories: The calorie requirement is reduced by about 25 percent as compared to normal adults doing light work due to decrease in basal metabolism and physical activity. The calorie intake should be adjusted to maintain the body weight constants. In the case of obese people, the calorie intake should be adjusted to reduce the body weight gradually. Persons with the body weight below normal should adjust calorie intake so that the body weight is gradually brought to normal level.

Metabolism

Nani Hari Kansakar — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 10:04:05 +0000

Metabolism is the sum total of all the chemical changes that nutrients undergo from the time they are absorbed until they become part of the body or are excreted from the body. The first phase of metabolism is Anabolism which involves the chemical reaction that nutrients undergo for the construction or building up of materials, such as muscle, tissues, enzymes, hormones, blood or glycogens. The other phase is catabolism which involves all the practices in which various compounds of the tissues are broken down. Energy metabolism is the term generally used to describe all the chemical and physical changes that the energy nutrients undergo in the process of releasing energy for the body’s use.

During the digestive processes, the carbohydrates of foods are converted into the simple sugars, glucose, fructose, and lactose. The portal vein carries them from the intestinal tract to the liver. The liver releases into the blood as much of glucose as in normally needed for the body’s immediate use and stores the rest by converting it into glycogen or “animal starch.” The process by which glucose is converted into glycogen is called glycogenesis. Some glycogens are also stored in the muscles. The liver can store up to about 100 gms or 10 percent of its weight in glycogens whereas the storage capacity of the muscles is only about 2 percent of its weight.

Insulin is a hormone selected by the pancreas in carbohydrate metabolism. It facilitates the oxidation of glucose as well as the formation of glycogen. In diabetes mellitus, a metabolic disease, there is a decrease in the productions of insulin and the liver is not able to store the excess of glucose. Therefore, the glucose level in the blood reserves and the body is not able to utilize the carbohydrates and glucose is secreted in the urine.

Adrenalin is a hormone and act in a manner exactly opposite to that of insulin. It stimulates the breakdown of liver glycogen and causes the withdrawal of glucose from the liver leading to consequent rise of glucose in the blood. That is why; there is an outburst, such as anger, shock or fear. Thus supply feed for some immediate physical action like fighting or running when extra energy is required by the body or when it does not get sufficient food as during starvation, under nutrition and certain diseases, at that time glycogen which is stored in the liver is converted into glucose.

Most of glucose in the body is derived from the dietary carbohydrates, a small quantity of glucose may be formed in the liver from non- carbohydrate sources, for an example lactic acid which is formed by the breakdown of muscle glycogen. The glycerol part of fats and the deaminized portions of amino acids. The oxidation of glucose or glycogen for
release of energy is complex and involves many stages, in which several complex enzymes take part. Glucose or glycogen is first broken down to pyruvic and lactic acids and later on oxidized to release energy, forming carbon dioxide and water. At this stage the deaminized amino acids and the fatty acid parts of fats enter the metabolism cycle. When the carbohydrates are consumed in greater quantities than the energy requirement of the body, the excess is converted into fat and either stored in the tissues or used in the form of amino acids.

In metabolism of fats, the end-products of the digestion of fats are fatty acids and glycerol. They are absorbed from the intestinal tract and passed into the lymph vessels on their way to the cells and tissues of the body. They are recombined to form fat molecules which unite milk phosphoric acid to form phospholipids, which aid in the transport of fatty acids in the body. The blood carries the fat, phospholipids, glycerol and fatty acids and distributes them to all parts of the body where they either oxidized for energy or stored as fatty tissues means get fatty body.

After metabolism of protein, amino acids are end-products which are absorbed into the blood stream immediately and passed into the liver from where they are distributed to the various cells of the body. The body uses the amino acids in three ways:

1.    Some amino acids are synthesized into protein to build new cells to replace worn-out cells and to form body regulators such as hormones, enzymes , antibodies and vitamins. Therefore the amino acids are used as “building blocks”.
2.    Some amino acids exchange their amino groups with other amino acids to form new amino acids peculiar to the species.
3.    The remaining amino acids are either converted into fats and carbohydrates or broken down to be used as fuel after oxidation.

Before oxidizing amino acids, their amino groups must be removed. This involves several steps and takes place in many of the tissues of the body, mainly in the liver and kidney. The amino group which is removed forms ammonia which is converted into urea and eliminated through urine.

All the three food factors, carbohydrates, fats and proteins are burnt in the body to yield energy for external muscular work and internal activity, the products of this burning are carbon dioxide, water, urea, and other nitrogenous constituents. These are excreted through the lungs, skin and kidneys. The excess of them is stored as fat.

Digestion and metabolism help toward the maintenance of the dynamic state of the “internal environment” of the body. The “internal environment” directly controls all life processes.

What happens to the food we eat?

Nani Hari Kansakar — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:05:33 +0000

‘Digestion’ is the term used for the process by which the complex food factors are broken up into small, simple and soluble units. These units can be easily absorbed in the digestive tract and diffused through the living of the digestive tract into the blood, lymph, spinal fluids, organs and tissues. The constituents of foods are brought into fluid forms through digestion. The complex starches and sugars are changed into simple sugars; fats are decomposed into mixtures of glycerol and fatty acids, and proteins are reduced to amino acids. These simplest forms of carbohydrates, fats and proteins are known as nutrients or ‘building blocks’ and are in an absorbable form.

After absorption, the nutrients undergo chemical changes in the body cells. These processes involve further breaking down of nutrients into simpler forms. These processes through which the synthesis or building up of a cellular constituents called metabolism, which reconstruct their own carbohydrates, fats, and proteins according to their unique pattern and needs, and the release of energy for the use of the body.

The simpler components of foods like the sugar, some minerals and water are absorbed directly but the complex foods are merely digested in the gastro-intestinal tract, between the mouth and the end of the small intestine by both mechanical processes and chemical actions.

The Mechanical Aspects of the Digestion

In the mechanical aspects of digestion, the food is mixed, subdivided and moved along the digestive tract. It starts with chewing in the mouth and is continued by the peristalsis or the muscular activities of the walls of the tract itself. The movements of the muscles of the gastro-intestinal tract are affected by nervous factors and anxiety. Therefore, eating while fatigued, worried or hurried and angry may lead to digestive disturbances.

Enzymes in Digestion

Chemical aspects of Digestion: The presence of some chemical substances in food and intestinal tract are known as ‘Enzymes’ in the digestive juices and cells is responsible for the chemical breakdown of food. Enzymes greatly speed up the changes which the food factors undergo during digestion and metabolism. Enzymes are catalysis or activators and are produced in the living cells. They functions through ‘contact’ and facilitate chemical reaction, without them food can nor react or undergo alteration. They are specific both as the substance on which they act and with regards to the nature of the change brought about. The enzymes which acts on proteins cannot act on fats and vice versa.

There are many enzymes in the body which help in various functions. Most of the enzymes are made up of proteins. They are further differentiated by the adjectives which indicates the sources.

The digestive apparatus of the human body consists of the elementary tract which is the tube about 30 feet in length and certain glands whose secretion are poured into the digestive canal to facilitate the changes taking place. The organs of digestion, namely, the mouth, the stomach, the small intestines, the large intestines and glands are suitably fitted for the functions of grinding, chewing, and moving the food mass and also for the chemical changes. These functions are regulated and coordinated by both the hormones and the nervous system. The entry of the mixture into the large intestine and the elimination of the residual material through the rectum elapse in about 18 hrs.

Effect of Cooking on Nutritive Value

Nani Hari Kansakar — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:08:24 +0000

Nearly all foodstuffs, with the exception of fruits and some leafy vegetables used either as salads or in chutneys, are consumed in the cooked state. Strictly speaking, the assessment of the nutritive value of any foodstuff should be made on the cooked material, the state in which it is consumed and not in its raw state. But culinary practice varies from province to province, district to district and even house to house.
Cooking involves one of the following processes - wet methods of treatment like boiling and steaming and dry methods of treatment; frying, roasting and baking. The wet methods of cooking lead to comparatively greater losses than the dry methods. The effect on the nutritive value of foodstuffs as a result of heating and cooking is, on the whole, less pronounced than is generally believed.
Ordinary cooking causes little loss of protein, fat and carbohydrates in cereals, pulses and meat. In vegetables, there may be some protein lost on boiling in water, particularly when salt is used in cooking and the cooking water rejected. If the cooking water is thrown, there is considerable loss of mineral salts especially of sodium, potassium and chlorine due to leaching. Therefore, it is advisable to use the minimum amount of water and to utilize the cooking water in either soup or gravies. Root vegetables do not suffer much loss by either the wet or dry methods of cooking. The skin of most root vegetables is impermeable and it is preferable to boil them with their skins. Further, it is advisable not to peel and cut the vegetable lone before boiling. The vegetables may be cut into as big pieces as possible, added immediately to water ready to boil and cooked for short time possible. The cooking liquor can be made used in soups. Losses due to leaching are less if the vegetables are just steamed.
During preliminary treatment of washing prior to cooking, a certain amount of minerals and vitamins are lost. It is a common practice for the housewives to wash rice three to four times with lots of water before cooking. Hence, considerable amounts of minerals pass into water, therefore the proportion removed is greater than that removed by subsequent cooking. The poor commercial quality rice is naturally required more washing than rice of good quality. The B vitamins especially thiamine and nicotinic acid may also be lost to the extent of about 40 percent. The rice “conjee” or the surplus liquor strained away after cooking rice also carries away with it a part of the vitamins. It will be a good practice to wash the rice only if necessary with little water and cook it in just sufficient water so that all the water is absorbed and no “conjee” is discarded. >>Read More

MINERAL SALTS

Nani Hari Kansakar — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 07:43:11 +0000

There are a large number of mineral elements that are present in the human body. Bone and teeth contain the large part of calcium, magnesium and phosphorus, blood contain iron. It is estimated that an average men excretes daily about 20 to 30 grams of mineral salts, consisting most of chlorides, sulphates and phosphates of sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium. This output must be made good by intake in the case of growing body; provision must be made for additional amount necessary for storage as a constituent of the newly laid tissues. The mineral salts, needed for the body are ingested through food stuff. Of these salts, calcium, iron and phosphorus play a prominent role in nutrition. It is probably insufficiently supplied by human diet and hence in the analysis of food stuff attention used to be directed to only these three minerals that are calcium, phosphorus, and iron. Several other elements such as copper, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, sulphur, etc. have also important role in nutrition and hence a brief mention is made here about these and available data on the content of these minerals available food which we can eat. Beside these, there are certain constituents in foods such as oxalic acid and phytin which influence the utilization of other nutrients.
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Vitamin ‘C’ and ‘D’

Nani Hari Kansakar — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:15:53 +0000

Vitamin ‘C’ or ascorbic acid is the vitamin that prevents scurvy. It is usually found in fresh fruits and vegetables. In all the vitamins, vitamin ‘C’ is the one vitamin that is most susceptible to destruction by atmospheric oxidation. That is the tendency to rapidly oxidize in air. It is for this reason that when vegetables get dry and stale, most of the vitamin ‘C’ originally presents is destroyed.

Fresh meat and milk contain a little vitamin ‘C’, pulses and cereal grains in the dry state do not normally contain vitamin ‘C’. But when they are allowed to sprout or germinate, the vitamin is formed in the grain and in the growing sprouts. About 85 percent of the vitamin is present in the grain. The germinated grains should be consumed either raw or after cooking for a minimum period. During prolonged draught and consequent famine, scurvy is bout the first deficiency disease to make its appearance. At this condition it would be difficult to provide adequate amounts of fruits and fresh vegetables, in such case, sprouted grains may be used as a cheap and easily available source of vitamin ‘C’. Especially sprouted mung or green gram is best as about these are three times more potent in vitamin ‘C’ than other grams.