DECE2-Solution(ENGLISH)-IGNOU-DAY 12-ORSP

Chloride
Food sources:

Chloride is widely distributed in all plant foods. But the most
important source of chloride in our diet is common table salt ‘ie, sodium chloride.

Magnesium
Sources:

Which are the food sources that are rich in magnesium? Magnesium is
widely distributed in plant foods. The most concentrated sources of magnesium
include nuts (groundnut, cashewnut, walnut, almond), oilseeds (sesame seeds).
pulses (rajmah, moth beans, soybean), whole grains (wheat, bajra, jowar). Among
sea foods shellfish is particularly rich in magnesium. Other foods which contain
appreciable amounts of magnesium include dark green leafy vegetables, peas, lotus
stem, fish (salmon, haddock), sea foods (crab, oyster) and meat.

Iron
Liver is an excellent source. Other organ meats like kidney, spleen also contain
substantial amounts of iron. Among the plant foods the list of iron sources includes
green leafy vegetables (like’ amaranth leaves, mustard leaves, colocasia leaves, mint
leaves), cereals (like whole wheat flour, rice flakes, bajra, ragi, jowar) and pulses
(especially the whole ones). Soybean is an example of a pulse containing good
amounts of iron. Jaggery is another food that contains fair amounts of iron.
We have mentioned several foods which contain substantial amounts of iron.
However, we have a paradoxical situation here. There is so much of iron present in
food and yet very little gets into the body.

lodineThe amount of iodine in most foods is limited and it varies widely depending on the
iodine content of sol1 and water. Crops such as vegetables especially those grown in
coastal areas where iodine content of the soil is high have substantial amounts of
iodine. In hilly areas, however, the iodine content of both the soil and water is low.
Hence the crops grown in such areas contain little iodine.
The iodine content of animal foods like eggs, dairy products and meat depends, of
course, on the iodine content of the food that is part of the animal’s diet. Sea foods
like fish, shell fish are among the best sources of iodine.

Ans. A balanced diet can be defined as one which contains different types of foods in
such quantities and proportions that the need for calories, minerals, vitamins and
other nutrientsis adequately met and a small provision is made for extra nutrients to
withstand short durations of leanness.
If you look at the definition carefully, you would realize that a balanced diet meets
the need for nutrients consists of different types of food items and provides for

nutrients.

Let us talk about each of these aspects:
A balanced diet meets the nutrient needs: A balanced diet meets nutrient needs
because of the amounts and proportions of the foods selected. How much should a
person consume of individual foods to meet his needs? This would be based on the
recommended dietary intakes (RDIs) laid down for the individual for whom the diet
is planned. The RDI figures for each nutrient tell us how much of the nutrient should
be consumed per day. These RDIs must be taken into consideration so that each
nutrient can be supplied in adequate amounts by the day’s diet. You will study more
about RDIs in the subsection  8.3.

A balanced diet consists of different types of food items: A balanced diet includes
a variety of foods. But how do we select these foods? The major aim, as we
mentioned earlier is to ensure that all nutrients are supplied. This can be achieved by
first classifying food into groups -each group supplying certain specific nutrients
and then selecting items from each food group to plan a balanced meal or diet.
Including items from each food group ensures that all the nutrients will be supplied.
These aspects will be clearer when you read through subsection 8.4.1 which
discusses the use of food groups in planning balanced diets.

Balanced diets provide for periods of leanness: We have now examined the first
two aspects of the definition of a balanced diet. Balanced diets also provide for
periods of leanness. This implies that there is a “safety margin” or a “little extra” for
those times when you do not meet your nutrient needs adequately. A normal
individual consumes a variety of foods. It is possible that on a given day he may not
consume foods in the amounts he requires. But such an individual would not
develop a deficiency if the diet meets the RDIs on most days. This is because RDIS
already include a margin of safety. Planning diets on the basis of RDis would take
care of this aspect and minor variations in intake from day to day would not cause
problems,
We have so far discussed the major aspects related to balanced diets. As we
mentioned earlier balanced diets supply all essential nutrients in amounts enough to
meet the nutrient needs. In other words, nutrient supply equals nutrient need.

Q11. Explain the concept of recommended dietary intakes classify.
Ans. In the previous Section we mentioned that a balanced diet is based on the
recommended dietary intakes or RDIs of nutrients laid down for the individual for
whom the diet is being planned. Now let us try to understand the concept of RDIs.

The Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) is the amount of a nutrient to be actually
consumed in order meet the requirements of the body. Recommended dietary
intakes are hence based on requirements. Now what do we mean by the term
“requirement”?
The requirement for a particular nutrient is the minimum amount that needs to be
consumed to prevent symptoms of deficiency and to maintain satisfactory levels of
the nutrient in the body. In other words, if we take in a nutrient in amounts equal to
the requirement, we would prevent deficiency of that nutrient in most healthy
people. But to make sure that we do not suffer from disease as well as enjoy a good
state of health we need to make sure that we take in extra nutrients over and above
the minimum requirement. This is called the safety margin.
The safety margin is added on to cover factors like:
Variation in requirement from individual to individual, periods of low intake
(periods of leanness) nature of diet cooking losses some of these points can be well
illustrated with the following example. In experiments conducted with adults it was
found that when the intake of vitamin C was 20 malady, vitamin C deficiency or
scurvy could be prevented and satisfactory levels of vitamin C could be maintained
in the body. Since all the persons studied were able to satisfactorily maintain body
vitamin C levels at an intake of 20 mg per day, there was no need to make
allowances for individual variation. Now, how is this figure for requirement
converted into an intake figure for adults? Vitamin C is easily destroyed on cooking
On the average, a figure of 50 per cent cooking losses was considered reasonable.
The recommended intake was therefore fixed at double the requirement i.e. 40 mg
per day. In addition to the factors already discussed, the nature of the diet has a
significant influence on the RDIs fixed for certain specific nutrients. Take protein for
example. M.my Indians cannot afford or do not wish to consume animal protein and
hence they consume a diet which supplies vegetable protein. Since vegetable protein
is utilized to a relatively lower extent more protein needs to be consumed and
therefore RDIs increase. Similarly, in the case of iron, the availability of iron to the
body depends on the type of food consumed. Absorption of iron from typical Indian
diets is low as you learnt in the previous Unit. Therefore more iron needs to be
consumed to meet the requirementi.e. the RDI is fixed at a higher level.

Q12. Identify the major factors influencing planning of balanced diets.
Ans. In the last section we identified the following factors as being of great
importance in planning balanced diets:

Nutrient needs of the individual Region-specific factors such as characteristic meal
patterns, social and religious practices Income Individual preferences Taking care to
ensure that the diet supplies essential nutrients in the amounts needed would make
the diet nutritionally adequate. This consideration would, of course, apply to
individuals from any region or income group. However income and regional factors
would play a key role in selection of the specific foods making up the diet. Income in
particular would greatly influence the variety of foods included. It would be
worthwhile to mention at this point that region specific factors determine both
acceptability and availability of foods. You would find a detailed discussion on these
factors later in this section. Before we go on to that, let us first talk about meal
planning and its relationship to diet planning.
As you know, the day’s diet consists of various meals. Once we have planned the
total amounts of foods from the three food groups to be included based on RDIS
comes the task of deciding on the number and pattern of meals the specific foods to
be selected for inclusion in each meal and the dishes which would be prepared using
these foods.
This exercise can be described as meal planning. Our earlier discussion would have
given you an idea of the fact that meal planning is not just an exercise of selecting
the right kind of foods to help meet the nutrient needs so that the person finds them
affordable and acceptable. It involves preparing/planning attractive and enjoyable
meals for all persons. Meals must taste good, smell good. Equally important meals
must ‘look good’ to be tasted, to be enjoyed. The art of skillful blending of foods in
terms of color, texture and flavor develops and improves with practice.
This is our main rationale for planning meals. When we plan a meal we may be
talking not just of one person but a group eg a family or a group of preschoolers in
a preschool center.
The specific aims in planning meals are to fulfill nutritional needs of the group
members, taking into account the size and composition of the group plan meals
within the family income, or in the case of a preschool center within the budget for
the midmorning snack or lunch aid in the proper purchase, preparation and service
of food economies on time, labor and fuel provide variety in the diet by making
proper selection of foods from within each of the three food groups make meals
appealing and palatable by proper selection of food in terms of color, texture and
flavor provide nutritious meals taking into account individual preferences Providing
a meal that would be enjoyed and accepted by one and all in a family or in any
group of individuals is rather difficult. Why? Individual preferences, varied nutrient
needs, varied food habits, are a few factors that would influence meal planning for a