Department of Natural Resource Economics

College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences

Sultan Qaboos University

Dr. (PhD)
Tarig Mohammed Gibreel

MODULE 1 continued
Calories and Protein: Calories and food
dreived from food and are both necessary for
growth, health, activity and survival.
Nutritional Role of Calories and Proteins:
calories are a measure of the energy
contained i food. The body needs them for:
Involuntary functions.
Physical activities.
Mental activities.
Fighting disease.
Growth.

 The human body use 20 amino acid to build

millions of different proteis.
Proteins Functions:
necessary for building the cells that make up the
muscles, membrances, cartilage, and hair.
Carry oxygen throughout the body.
Contribute to the development of antibodies that
fight disease.
Carry nutrients into and out of cells and help
assimilate food.
Work as enzymes that speed.

Chapter 4: How can we measure the

extent of undernutrition in a group?
In a country, or city, or a village we need to
assess the undernutrition, is it rare or
common-place?
Identification of the problem is most serious
and important issue. Why?
Because, resources for coping with
undernutrition are scarce, they must be
spent wisely.

Measuring Undernutrition
ASSESSMENT
of the nutritional
situation in target
population
ACTION
based on the
analysis &
available
resources

ANALYSIS
of the causes
of the
problem

Source: UNICEF, Triple-A Cycle

1. Biochemical testing and

2. Clinical examination

To define the nutritional

problem of the targeted
population,
it is necessary to measure its
nutritional status.
Nutritional status assessments
enable to determine whether
the individual is well-nourished
or undernourished.
3. Dietary assessment and
4. Anthropometric
measurement

Measuring Undernutrition
1. Biochemical testing and
2. clinical examination can
contribute to diagnosing
micronutrient deficiencies.

The most common deficiencies are:

Iodine,
vitamin A, and
iron
During emergencies:
scurvy (a vitamin C deficiency),
beri-beri (vitamin B 1 deficiency),
and
pellagra (vitamin B 3 deficiency).

3. Dietary assessment

Dietary surveys are often employed to assess
nutritional status. Two approaches are used:
1. dietary recall, in which the subject is asked to
remember what he/she ate, such as past 24 hours, or
the past 7 days. And
2. dietary records, in which someone records the
amount of food consumed at mealtimes, often by
weighing it.

Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages.
(see pages: 38 39)

4. ANTHROPOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS
What is Anthropometry? It is the science of measuring
the human body and its parts.
Anthropos - "man and Metron "measurement

A branch of anthropology that involves the quantitative
measurement of the human body.

Nutritional Anthropometry: Measurement of the

variations of the physical Dimensions & the gross
composition of the human body at different age levels
and degrees of nutrition - Jellife (1966)

It is used to evaluate both under & over nutrition.

The measured values reflects the current nutritional
status & dont differentiate between acute & chronic
changes

Use of Anthropometry

Individual Level

SCREENING: ONE TIME ASSESSMENT

to immediately decrease case fatality (emergency
situations)

in non-emergency situations

GROWTH MONITORING: TREND ASSESSMENT

Population Level

ONE TIME ASSESSMENT

under circumstances of food crisis

for long-term planning

NUTRITIONAL SURVEILLANCE (Watch): TREND
ASSESSMENT

for long-term planning

for timely warning

for programme management

Steps of Anthropometry Measurement

Technique of measuring people
Measure

MEASUREMENTS
- Using Anthropometric
Instruments
2. Compare to REFERENCE
VALUES / STANDARDS
- National & International

Reference

Index

3. Make a determination of
nutritional status :
3.1 INDICES

Indicator

- Computed
-Age dependent/Independent

Information

3.2 CLASSIFICATIONS
- Grading of Nutritional Status

10

Anthropometric Parameters
Basic measurements

Height (length)

Weight (mass)

Skin-fold thickness

BMI

(Waist/Hip) ratio and

Mid-arm circumference (MAC)
Same age girls

Nutritional Anthropometry
Weight : - Total Body mass
- Simple, widely used
- Sensitive to small changes in nutrition
Height:

- Genetically Determined
- Environmentally influenced
- Stunting Reflects chronic undernutrition

MUAC (Mid-Upper Arm Circumference):

- Reflects muscle/fat
- Easy to measure, used for quick screening
- Independent of age (1-5 years)
FFT Food For Thought:
- Measures body fat
- Correlates well with total body fat

12

Advantages & Disadvantages of Anthropometry

Advantages

Disadvantages

Simple & Safe procedures

Inexpensive, portable,
durable equipment
Little training
Precise & accurate
methods
Info generated on past
long-time nutritional
history, not possible with
other tech. with equal
confidence.

Relatively insensitive
method & cant detect
disturbances in nutritional
status over short period of
time or identify specific
nutrient deficiency.
Unable to distinguish
disturbances in growth or
body composition induced
by nutrient(Zn) def. from
those caused by imbalances
in P&E intake.

Impact of Undernutrition on Physical Growth

and Development

Undernutrition physical effects appears in the

individuals body size, thus we have to
distinguish
between
two
types
of
undernutrition:
Acute undernutrition: is short-term,
severely inadequate food intake (during
famine & war).
Chronic undernutrition: is long-term
inadequacy of protein or calories or both,
and causes physical effects even when the
inadequacy is moderate.

The physical effects of undernutrition manifest in

various ways:
1. Low Height-for-Age, or Stunting: is a sympton of
past undernutrition, the person may or may not
be undernourished today.
2. Low Weight-for-Height, or Wasting: is a
symptom of current undernutrition. People
exhibit low weight-for-height, or wasting.
3. Low Weight-for-Age, or Underweight: is
symptom of either past or present
undernutrition, and individuals are reffered to as
underweight.

Reading assignment

What is a balanced protein?

How many amino acids does the body needs?
Is the body able to produce all the needed amino acids?
What are the sources of the amino acid?
What is the diference between a person living on adeit of beans,
another living on wheat and a third living on combination of beans
and wheat?
How much of a nutrients is enough? And how many calories does
human body need?
Which is the bigger problem: Protein Deficiency or Calories
Deficiency?
Hint: read pages 28 to 35 from your Text Book The World Food
Problem
How can the nutritional status of large groups measured? And why
do we need to measure nutritional status of large group? pages 51
54

Reading assignment

What is a balanced protein?

How many amino acids does the body needs?
Is the body able to produce all the needed amino acids?
What are the sources of the amino acid?
What is the diference between a person living on adeit of beans,
another living on wheat and a third living on combination of beans
and wheat?
How much of a nutrients is enough? And how many calories does
human body need?
Which is the bigger problem: Protein Deficiency or Calories
Deficiency?
Hint: read pages 28 to 35 from your Text Book The World Food
Problem
How can the nutritional status of large groups measured? And why
do we need to measure nutritional status of large group? pages 51
54