NUTRITION AND WOMEN’S HEALTH

Article By:  Rabeea Khan
                    Student of University of Karachi

Research in nutrition today

Scientists are researching what types of diets are best for preventing and controlling disease. For example, one study is examining the effect of the typical. American diet on the risk of heart disease in African American and Caucasian women. In another project, scientists are trying to find the best treatment for osteoporosis (OSS-tee-oh-push-ROH- sums) in older women. Much research is also devoted to the prevention and control of obesity, a major problem in the

United States

v  The Bible, Book of Daniel - Daniel was captured by the King of Babylon and had to serve in the King's court. Daniel objected to being fed fine foods and wine, saying he preferred vegetables, pulses and water. The chief steward reluctantly agreed to a trial, comparing Daniel's dietary preference to those of the court of the King of Babylon. For ten days Daniel and his men had their vegetarian diet, while the King's men had theirs. The trial revealed that Daniel and his men were healthier and fitter, so they were allowed to carry on with their diet.

v  Hippocrates (Greece, ca460BC - ca370BC), one nutrient theory - according to Hippocrates everybody is the same, no matter what they have been eating, or where they have lived. He concluded that every food must contain one nutrient which makes us the way we are. This one-nutrient myth continued for thousands of years. Hippocrates is also famous for having said "Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food."

v  Antoine Lavoisier (France, 1743-1794) - became known as the father of chemistry and also the father of nutrition. He became famous for the statement "Life is a chemical process". He also designed the "calorimeter", a device which measured heat produced by the body from work and consumption from different amounts and types of foods. At the age of 24 he became a member of the French Academy of Science. In 1794, during the French Revolution, he was beheaded.

v  Christian Eijkman (Holland, 1858-1930) - a famous physician and pathologist (doctor who identifies diseases by studying cells and tissues under a microscope). He noticed that some of the people in Java developed Beriberi, a disease which leads to heart problems and paralysis. When he fed chickens a diet consisting mainly of white rice they also developed Beriberi type symptoms, but the chickens fed unprocessed brown rice did not. White rice has the outer bran removed, while brown rice does not. When he fed brown rice to patients with Beriberi they were cured. Many years later it was found that the outer husks (outer bran) in rice contain thiamine, or vitamin B₁. Together with Sir Frederick Hopkins, he received the Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine.

v  Dr. James Lind (Scotland, 1716-1794) - a pioneer on hygiene in the Scottish and Royal (British) navies. He stressed the importance of good ventilation, cleanliness of sailor's bodies, clean bedding, below deck fumigation, fresh water by distilling sea water, and the consumption of citrus fruits to prevent and cure scurvy. He is well respected today for his work in improving practices in preventive medicine and improved nutrition. He published his Treatise on Scurvy. Many decades later British sailors were known as Limeys because they regularly consumed lime juice and enjoyed better health and vigor than sailors in most other navies.

Dr. William Beaumont (USA, 1785-1853) - a surgeon in the US Army. He became known as the Father of gastric physiology for his research on human digestion. Beaumont met Alexia St. Martin, a French trapper who was shot in the stomach. Beaumont treated him but was unable to close the hole in his stomach, which healed with an opening to the outside (a fistula). St. Martin allowed Beaumont to make observations periodically, even allowing him to fiddle around with his innards, which must have been painful. This allowed Beaumont to conduct several experiments and make some important discoveries and conclusions, including:

§  The stomach is not a grinder.

§  There is no internal "spirit" selecting good purpose foods one way and discarding bad purpose foods to waste.

§  Digestion occurs because of digestive juices which are secreted from the stomach.

§  Foods are not digested separately and sequentially, but rather all the time and at different rates.

§  Stomach rumblings are caused by stomach contractions, and nothing else.

§  Fat is digested slowly.

v  Dr. Stephen Babcock (USA, 1843-1931) - an agricultural chemist. He is known for his Babcock test which determines dairy butterfat in milk and cheese processing. He is also known for the single-grain experiment that eventually led to the development of nutrition as a science.

Babcock had the idea of feeding dairy cattle with just one food source, either all corn plant or all wheat plant. He placed two heifers on either diet. However, when one of his animals died they were all taken away and he was not allowed to continue researching.

Eventually, Babcock's associates, Hart, Humphrey, McCollum, and Steenbok conducted the experiments again. Four five-month-old heifers were each fed either exclusively feed from corn plant, wheat plant, oat plant, or all three mixed together. They all put on weight at approximately the same rate during the first 12 months. However, the corn-fed cows went on to have normal calves, while the wheat-fed cows gave birth to either dead calves or calves that died soon after birth. They also noted that the corn-fed cows produced three times as much milk as the wheat-fed ones. Life can be hectic, and sometimes it’s hard to take the time to make healthy food choices.

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