Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology

378 Chapter 16

health Alert

Essential Nutrients

There are six classes of nutrients: carbo-

hydrates, lipids (fats), proteins, vitamins,

minerals, and water. These nutrients in

combination contain the essential elements

carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phos-

phorus, and sulfur (CHNOPS). These are es-

sential nutrients that a person must obtain

from food because the body cannot manu-

facture them in sufficient amounts to meet its

physiological needs.

It is essential that we choose good di-

etary guidelines to maintain a healthy body.

These guidelines have been established by

the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the

U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services:

●● Eat a variety of foods.

●● Balance the food you eat with physical

activity and maintain or improve your

weight.^

●● Eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and

whole grain products.^

●● Cut back on foods high in solid fats,

added sugars, and salt.

New dietary guidelines were intro-duced

in 2010, including the MyPlate icon, to help

you make better food choices. The MyPlate

dietary guidelines encourage you to visually

create a healthy plate of foods, including

vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low-fat dairy

products, and lean protein foods. Suggestions

for building a healthy plate include:

●● Filling half your plate with fruits and

vegetables^

●● Switching to skim or 1% milk

●● Making at least half your grains whole

grain^

●● Varying your protein food choices

Agriculture of

Department U.S. the of Courtesy

The MyPlate icon is a visual reference tool

demon-strating a healthy plate and the fact that

all food groups provide valuable nutrients.

All the food groups provide valuable

nutrients. Visit http://www.choosemyplate

.gov to get your personal daily calorie limit. To

assist you in making healthy choices, read

food labels. Food labels help consumers

select foods with lower calories, saturated fat,

trans fat, and sodium, and foods with more

dietary fiber and complex carbohydrates.

Nutrition fact labels can include information on

serving size and number of servings per

container; kilocalorie (kcal) information and

quantities of nutrients per serving, in actual

amounts; quantities of nutrients as “% Daily^

Values” based on a 2000 kcal energy intake; the

daily values for selected nutrients for a 2000 and

a 2500 kcal diet; kilocalorie per gram reminder;

and the ingredients in descending order of

predominance by weight. Packages with less

than 12 square inches of surface area do not

have to carry any nutrient information but will

have a telephone number or address to contact

to obtain that information.