NUTRITIONAL

EPIDEMIOLOGY
Maira Jabeen
L1F18BSFT0021
 Epidemiology Nutritional
Epidemiology
■ It is the study of the ■ The study of the
frequency, distribution and nutritional
determinants of health
related phenomena in determinants of
human populations. disease in human
populations.
What is nutrition?
■ Nutrition is the science that interprets the interaction of nutrients
and other substances in food in relation to maintenance, growth,
reproduction, health and disease of an organism.
■ It includes food intake, absorption, assimilation, biosynthesis,
catabolism and excretion.
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 influences levels of
health.
Why it is Important?
■ It enable us to understand the relationship between
 Diet and health
 Diet and diseases
■ It enables us to understand the etiology of many diseases.
 Low intake of fruits and vegetables has been shown to be
related to increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
 Replacing saturated and trans fats with unsaturated fats
can play an important role in the prevention of
 Coronary heart disease
 Type 2 diabetes.
 Epidemiological Studies &
Folic Acid
■ Epidemiological studies established that women could substantially
reduce their risk of bearing a child with a neural tube birth defect
by increasing their intake of the B vitamin folic acid.
■ Government agencies in several countries are planning to fortify
staple foods with folic acid.
■ Medical organizations have recommended increased intakes of
folic acid for women of childbearing potential.
 Objectives of nutritional
epidemiology
■ Contributing to prevention of disease and improvement of
public health.
■ Monitoring food consumption, nutrient intake and nutritional
status of a population.
■ Generating new hypotheses about diet and disease
 produce evidence that supports or refutes existing
hypotheses
 assess the strength of diet-disease associations
 Advantages
■ Its 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.
■ Findings from nutritional epidemiology can have direct
implications for food processing and technology.
 For example:
MARGARINE
■ Epidemiological studies showed that there is an association
between high intakes of trans fatty acids (found in margarine
and other processed vegetable fats) with increased risks of
coronary heart disease.
■ This will probably prompt margarine manufacturers to seek out
ways to reformulate their products to reduce their trans fatty acid
content.
 Disadvantages
Possibility of biasing.
■ Bias is defined as systematic error, resulting in over or
underestimation of the strength of association between exposure
and outcome.
Difficulty in determining whether
observed associations are causal
 Drinking of alcohol is associated with lung cancer risk.
 Efforts to discourage alcohol consumption would not be likely
to reduce the lung cancer death rate,
 Because the relationship is not causal.
 Instead, it reflects the association of both alcohol intake and lung
cancer with a third factor which is cigarette smoking.
Difficulties facing nutritional
epidemiology
■ Complex nature of diet
To understand this complexity, it is helpful to compare
diet with another exposure such as cigarette smoking.
 Do you smoke?
 number of cigarettes smoked per day
 types or brands of cigarettes smoked
 age at which the person began smoking
THANKYOU