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This is the complete lecture note for COM405 Public Health Nutrition and Rehabilitation. You can read it online below, open it in the full viewer, or download the PDF for offline study. It pairs with the course's video lectures, so you can read and watch together.
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS Course code: COM 405 Course title: Public Health Nutrition and Rehabilitation Course credit load: 1 Unit Series 1: Public Health Nutrition: Definition, Diet, and Nutritional Values of Nigerian Foodstuff • Part 1.1: Defining Public Health Nutrition o Sub Part 1.1.1: What is public health nutrition? o Sub Part 1.1.2: Scope and importance of public health nutrition o Sub Part 1.1.3: Nutrition and community health in Nigeria • Part 1.2: Relationship Between Diet and Nutrition o Sub Part 1.2.1: Defining diet and nutrition o Sub Part 1.2.2: Nutrients and their functions o Sub Part 1.2.3: Diet quality and nutritional adequacy • Part 1.3: Nutritional Values of Common Nigerian Foodstuffs o Sub Part 1.3.1: Staple carbohydrate foods o Sub Part 1.3.2: Protein-rich foods in the Nigerian diet o Sub Part 1.3.3: Fruits, vegetables, fats, and oils
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS Introduction Nutrition is one of the most powerful determinants of health at both the individual and population level. What people eat influences their physical growth, cognitive development, immune function, and risk of both communicable and non-communicable diseases. Public health nutrition applies the science of nutrition to the health of populations, seeking to understand and improve dietary practices at a scale that affects entire communities rather than only individual patients. This Series introduces public health nutrition as a discipline, examining its definition, scope, and importance for community health in Nigeria. It then explores the fundamental relationship between diet and nutrition, including the six classes of nutrients and their functions in the body, before examining the nutritional values of the most common Nigerian foodstuffs across the food groups. This foundational knowledge underpins all subsequent topics in the course. By the end of this Series, learners will have a clear understanding of what public health nutrition is, how diet and nutrition relate, and what the major Nigerian foods contribute to meeting nutritional requirements. Series Learning Outcomes Upon completing this Series, you should be able to: • SLO 1.1 define public health nutrition and describe its scope and importance for community health in Nigeria (Linked to Part 1.1), • SLO 1.2 distinguish between diet and nutrition, enumerate the classes of nutrients and their functions, and explain what constitutes a nutritionally adequate diet (Linked to Part 1.2), and • SLO 1.3 describe the nutritional values of common Nigerian foodstuffs across the carbohydrate, protein, and fruit and vegetable groups (Linked to Part 1.3). 1.1 Defining Public Health Nutrition
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS 1.1.1 What is public health nutrition? Public health nutrition is the application of nutrition science to the promotion and maintenance of population health, with the aim of preventing nutrition-related diseases and promoting optimal nutritional status across all segments of the community. It is distinguished from clinical nutrition, which focuses on the assessment and treatment of nutrition problems in individual patients, by its population-level perspective and its emphasis on prevention, policy, and community action rather than individual clinical management. Public health nutrition draws on multiple disciplines, including nutritional science, epidemiology, social science, education, and public policy, to understand why populations eat the way they do and to design effective interventions that support healthier dietary practices. As a field, it addresses not only what individuals eat but the food systems, economic conditions, cultural practices, and policies that shape food availability, affordability, and dietary choices at the community and national level. Fill in the blank: Public health nutrition applies nutrition science at the ________ level, focusing on prevention, policy, and community action to promote optimal nutritional status across all segments of the community. 1.1.2 Scope and importance of public health nutrition The scope of public health nutrition is broad, encompassing nutrition surveillance and assessment to monitor the nutritional status of populations, nutrition education and counselling to improve dietary knowledge and practices, food and nutrition policy development to create enabling environments for healthy diets, programme planning and evaluation for nutrition interventions, and coordination with other sectors including agriculture, education, trade, and social protection. Public health nutrition is critically important in Nigeria because the country carries a double burden of malnutrition, simultaneously facing widespread undernutrition, particularly among children under five and women of reproductive age, and a rapidly growing burden of
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS overnutrition and diet-related non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease among urban populations. Addressing this complex nutritional landscape requires a comprehensive public health nutrition approach that goes well beyond simply advising individuals to eat more healthily. Fill in the blank: Nigeria faces a double burden of malnutrition, combining widespread ________ particularly in children and women, with a growing burden of overnutrition and diet-related non-communicable diseases in urban populations. 1.1.3 Nutrition and community health in Nigeria Nutritional status in Nigeria is shaped by a complex interplay of biological, social, economic, and environmental factors. Poverty and food insecurity limit access to a diverse and nutritious diet for a large proportion of the Nigerian population. Traditional food practices, while often nutritionally sound, are sometimes displaced by processed and fast foods in urban areas, contributing to rising rates of overweight and diet-related chronic disease. At the community level, nutrition problems manifest in high rates of stunting (low height-for-age indicating chronic undernutrition), wasting (low weight-for-height indicating acute undernutrition), and micronutrient deficiencies such as iron-deficiency anaemia, vitamin A deficiency, and iodine deficiency disorders. These conditions have profound consequences for child survival, cognitive development, educational attainment, and economic productivity, making public health nutrition interventions among the highest-value investments available in the Nigerian health system. Fill in the blank: Nutrition problems at the Nigerian community level include stunting, wasting, and micronutrient deficiencies such as iron-deficiency anaemia, vitamin A deficiency, and ________ deficiency disorders.
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS Figure 1.1: The scope of public health nutrition and the double burden of malnutrition in Nigeria Pilot questions 1.1 1. Define public health nutrition and distinguish it from clinical nutrition. (Linked to SLO 1.1) 2. Describe the scope of public health nutrition. (Linked to SLO 1.1) 3. Explain what is meant by the double burden of malnutrition in Nigeria. (Linked to SLO 1.1) 4. Identify three factors that shape nutritional status at the community level in Nigeria. (Linked to SLO 1.1) 5. Name three common forms of undernutrition seen at the community level in Nigeria. (Linked to SLO 1.1)
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS 1.2 Relationship Between Diet and Nutrition 1.2.1 Defining diet and nutrition Diet refers to the total sum of food and drink habitually consumed by an individual or group over a defined period, encompassing the types, amounts, and patterns of food intake that characterise a person's eating behaviour. Nutrition refers to the processes by which organisms take in and utilise food substances to support growth, maintenance, and repair of body tissues, the regulation of metabolic processes, and the provision of energy for bodily functions. The relationship between diet and nutrition is therefore one of input and process: diet is the external input of food substances into the body, while nutrition is the biological process through which those substances are digested, absorbed, transported, metabolised, and utilised. A diet can be described in terms of its nutritional adequacy, that is, the extent to which the foods consumed together provide the nutrients needed by the body in appropriate quantities to support health. Fill in the blank: Diet refers to the habitual food and drink consumed, while nutrition refers to the biological ________ by which food substances are digested, absorbed, and utilised to support growth, maintenance, and energy. 1.2.2 Nutrients and their functions Nutrients are chemical substances obtained from food that the body requires to function properly. They are conventionally classified into six broad groups: carbohydrates, which serve as the body's primary energy source; proteins, which provide amino acids for growth, repair, and synthesis of enzymes, hormones, and immune proteins; fats and oils, which provide a concentrated energy source, support fat-soluble vitamin absorption, and contribute to cell membrane structure. Vitamins are organic compounds required in small amounts to regulate metabolic processes, support immune function, and prevent deficiency diseases; they are classified as fat-soluble (A, D, E, K) or water-soluble (B group and C). Minerals are inorganic elements required for
la-NET | ONLINE LEARNING VIDEO PLATFORM FOR POST-SECONDARY & HIGHER INSTITUTION STUDENTS structural functions (such as calcium and phosphorus in bones) and regulatory functions (such as iron in haemoglobin and iodine in thyroid hormones). Water is the sixth class of nutrient, essential for all metabolic reactions, thermoregulation, transport, and excretion. Fill in the blank: The six classes of nutrients are carbohydrates, proteins, fats and oils, vitamins, minerals, and ________; each plays distinct and essential roles in supporting bodily growth, maintenance, regulation, and energy supply. 1.2.3 Diet quality and nutritional adequacy Diet quality refers to
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