NUTRITIONAL EPIDEMOLOGY , Public Health

Nutritional Epidemiology

1. NUTRITIONAL EPIDEMOLOGY Ms. Sehrish Chaudhary

2. Epidemiology The word epidemiology comes from the Greek words epi , meaning on or upon, demos, meaning people, and logos, meaning the study of Epidemiology  is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and  determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined  population.

3. Nutrition Nutrition is the science that interprets the interaction of nutrients & other substances in food in relation to maintenance, growth, reproduction, health & disease of an organism. It includes food intake, absorption, assimilation, biosynthesis, catabolism & excretion.

4. Nutritional Epidemiology Nutritional epidemiology examines dietary and nutritional factors in relation to disease occurrence at a population level. Nutritional epidemiology  is a relatively new field of medical research that studies the relationship between nutrition and health. It is a young discipline in epidemiology that is continuing to grow in relevance to present-day health concerns. Nutritional epidemiology uses knowledge from nutritional science  to aid in the understanding of human nutrition and the explanation of basic underlying mechanisms

5. Components Assessment of nutritional status of community Nutritional & Dietary Survey Nutritional surveillance Nutrition & growth Monitoring

6. Nutrition in Epidemiology In terms of epidemiology, nutrition can be defined in the following two ways: The way in which the human body reacts with diet The extent to which the diet influence the level of Health.

7. Why it is important? It enable us to understand the relationship between Diet & Health Diet & Disease It enable us to understand the etiology of many diseases Low intake of fruits & Vegetables has been shown to be related to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases Replacing saturated and trans fats w ith unsaturated fat can play important role in the prevention of Coronary heart diseases Type II Diabetes

8. Epidemiological studies established that women could substantially reduce their risk of bearing a child with neural tube birth defect by increasing their intake of folic acid. Government agencies in several countries are planning to fortify staple food with folic acid. Medical organizations have recommended increased intakes of folic acid for women of child bearing potential

9. Goals of Nutritional Epidemiology Monitoring food consumption, Nutrient intake & nutritional status of population Contribute to the prevention of disease & improvement of public health

10. Objectives of Nutritional Epidemiology Contributing to prevention of diseases and improvement of public health Understanding the complex relationship between diet & disease. Generating a new hypothesis about diet and disease Produce evidence that refuse or support existing hypothesis Assess the strength of diet disease association

11. Advantages It direct relevance to human health Epidemiologists study real life . They do not need to extrapolate from animal models or in vitro systems. The results of their work can be translated into specific recommendations for changes in nutrient intakes or food consumption patterns . Finding from nutritional epidemiology can have direct implications for food processing and technology.

12. Epidemiological studies showed that there is an association between high intake of trans fatty acid ( found in margarine and other processed vegetables fats) with increased risks of coronary heart diseases. This will probably prompt margarine manufacturers to seek out ways to reformulate their products to reduce their trans fatty acid content

13. Disadvantages Possibility of biasing Bias is any systematic error in an epidemiologic study that results in an incorrect estimate of the association between exposure and the health outcome

14. Difficulty in deterring whether observed associations are casual Drinking of alcohol is associated with lung cancer Effort to discourage alcohol consumption would not be likely to reduce the lung cancer death rate Because the relationship is not casual Instead it reflects the association of both alcohol and lung cancer with a third factor which is cigarette smoking.

15. Difficulties facing Nutritional Epidemiology Complex nature of diet To understand complexity, it is helpful to compare diet with another exposure such as cigarette smoking Do you smoke? No of cigarettes smoked per day Types or brands of cigarette smoked Age at which the person began smoking