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Dietary Needs

Beyond calories, humans need a balance of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals to be healthy.

Nutritional Needs

Humans need more than mere calorie count to survive. Following are estimates of needs by macronutrient, vitamin, and mineral.

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Estimated macronutrient, vitamin, and mineral needs for an adult male, based on a 2200 calorie overall diet. Source: 1.

Diet and Health

In general, Americans consume too much added sugar, sodium, and saturated fat, and not enough valuable minerals.

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Source: 1

Obesity, resulting primarily from eating too much food, is a growing problem.

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Sources: CIA 2 and World Health Organization 3.

Additionally, 39% of the world's adults are considered overweight 4. Obesity is linked with 4.7 million deaths globally per year 4, one of the leading causes.

Complicating efforts to address malnutrition are food allergies, which affect about 10% of American adults 5. About 90% of food allergic reactions can be attributed to the following: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy, and wheat 6.

Problem:
Poor Diet
Solution:
Removal of Unhealthy Foods From Government Programs

Micronutrient Deficiency

Major nutrient deficiencies, their effects, and their pravalencies are as follows.

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Sources: Biban and Lichiardopol 7, Our World in Data 8, and Roth et al. 9.

About half of children around the world suffer from "hidden hunger", or some form of micronutrient deficiency.

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Source: UNICEF 10.

Micronutrient defiency can be addressed, among other methods, through fortification: dietary supplements, food fortification (e.g. adding micronutrients to cereals and other foods), and biofortification (genetic engineering, such as adding Vitamin A to golden rice) 8.

Problem:
Birth Risks in Low Income Countries
Solution:
Improved Prenatal Supplements
Problem:
Childhood Nutrition Education Inadequacies in Low Income Countries
Solution:
Complimentary Feeding Education Program
Problem:
Stunting and Malnutrition in Low Income Countries
Solution:
Supplementary Food Program

Salt Iodization

Because salt is commonly consumed and easy to fortify, iodization of salt is a preferred method to respon to iodine deficiency. The World Health Organization estimates that it costs 2 to 5 cents per person per year to iodize salt 11.

References

  1. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. "Dietary Guidelines 2015-2020". U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. Accessed December 28, 2020. ↩ ↩2

  2. Central Intelligence Agency. "The World Factbook". Accessed December 28, 2020. ↩

  3. World Health Organization. "Obesity and overweight". April 2020. ↩

  4. Ritchie, H., Roser, M. "Obesity". Our World in Data. Accessed December 28, 2020. ↩ ↩2

  5. Food Allergy Research & Education. "Facts and Statistics". Accessed December 28, 2020. ↩

  6. Natioanl Center for Health Statistics. "Food Allergy Among U.S. Children: Trends in Prevalence and Hospitalizations". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. October 2008. ↩

  7. Biban, B., Lichiardopol, C. "Iodine Deficiency, Still a Global Problem?". Current health sciences journal 43(2), p. 103-111. April-June 2017. ↩

  8. Ritchie, H., Roser, M. "Micronutrient Deficiency". Our World in Data. August 2017. ↩ ↩2

  9. Roth, D., Abrams, S., Aloia, J., Bergeron, G., Bourassa, M., Brown, K., Calvo, M., Cashman, K., Combs, G., De-Regil, L., Jefferds, M., Jones, K., Kapner, H., Martineau, A., Neufeld, L., Schleicher, R., Thacher, T., Whiting, S. "Global prevalence and disease burden of vitamin D deficiency: a roadmap for action in low‐ and middle‐income countries". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. September 2018. ↩

  10. UNICEF. "The State of the World’s Children 2019. Children, Food and Nutrition: Growing well in a changing world". UNICEF, New York. 2019. ↩

  11. WHO. Guideline: fortification of food-grade salt with iodine for the prevention and control of iodine deficiency disorders. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2014. ↩