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Introduction

Abstract Subject - the subject was a 21-year-old male student from the University of Teesside. The subject was 1.78m, weighed 65.3kg and had a BMI of 20.52. The subject has a moderate / vigorous lifestyle. Methodology - A case study investigation whereby the subject was required to complete a 7-day food dairy, which was assessed using COMP-EAT software. Dietary modifications were put in place before reviewing the post intervention food dairy. Results - the post intervention results show that carbohydrate amounts improved by 121g, proteins by 20.1g and fats by 7.8g. Fluid (water) intake also increased as well as an 18% drop in alcohol energy levels. Conclusion - although the client's nutritional status increased, there is still need for improvement to meet the demands of an active lifestyle. Introduction Nutrition is a science that examines the relationship between diet and health (Morris at al, 2004). Deficiencies, excesses and imbalances in diet can produce negative impacts on health, which may lead to disease (CV, metabolic or musculoskeletal). Physical inactivity is also an influential factor to many diseases in later life, just like poor nutrition; therefore improvements in both areas can have positive effects in lifestyle and health. There are seven main classes of nutrients that the body needs: carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, minerals, fibre and water (Murphy & Poos, 2002). The food we eat is then digested and absorbed, and then metabolized to release energy that the body can use. The human body needs energy in order to function properly and individual energy requirements depend on a number of factors, based mainly on energy expenditure. The four components of energy expenditure comprise of Basel metabolic rate (BMR); thermic effect of food (TEF); adaptive thermogenisis (AT) and of course physical activity (Griffin, 2002). Current nutritional recommendations Due to the subject leading an active lifestyle, the energy requirements would therefore be greater than that of a sedentary person. ...read more.

Middle

Figure 4. The subject's element intake compared to the recommended requirements. Figure 4 shows the elements that the subject was showing a deficiency in the recommended intake for selenium is 75mg, however the subject only consumed 7.86mg. Although after the nutritional strategies were set the subject showed a significant improvement by increasing the selenium amount to 43.49mg, yet still falling short of the recommended daily intake. The subject showed similar trends in iron, copper and zinc intake, presenting a low amount during the initial testing (7.87mg, 0.64mg & 4.9mg respectively) that didn't meet the recommended requirements. In fact all three elements increased to go above the recommended requirements, with iron reaching amounts of 14.23mg, copper 1.52mg and zinc amounts of 10.5mg. Discussion It is clear from the data gathered in Figure 1 that the client was unable to consume the required amount of kcal's to meet the demands of energy expenditure on a daily basis. As the case study has an active lifestyle, it was calculated that 3681 kcal was sufficient to meet the demands of the subject's active lifestyle. However, the client was unable to meet the client specific target of 3681 kcal and only managed 2277 kcal after the interventions were implanted, showing much room for improvement. Figure 2 shows that the subject recorded low levels of carbohydrates on the first test and was unable to RNI and client specific requirements for carbohydrates and protein. However the subject was able to the meet the RNI for total fat intake, therefore concentration on the other macronutrients was advised. With the dietary interventions in place the subject was able to increase the carbohydrates and protein amounts to meet the recommended nutrient intake and client specific requirements. Figure 3 shows the percentage of energy accrued from each macronutrient at pre- post dietary intervention as well as the recommended percentages for the general population. The data shows that the subject's percentage does improve due to the decrease in alcohol consumption although there is an issue in that there is still too much energy provided by fats that should be provided from carbohydrates. ...read more.

Conclusion

Consequently the subject was given advice on the health risks of alcohol and recommended to reduce alcohol consumption as it would be impossible for the subject to completely stop due to the nature of the student lifestyle. A reason for the significant decline in alcohol consumption was due to the subject's inability to afford alcohol. If the client were to continue to lead an active lifestyle it would be advisable to further increase energy intake to the recommended requirements. It would also be suitable to increase carbohydrate intake, especially during exercise as it has been noted before to enhance performance (Bangsbo et al, 1992; Tsintzus et al, Kirkendell, 1993). With the literature on protein requirement and soccer performance varying in opinion, future recommendations would be down to the client's personal choice. However it would be imperative for the client to improve fluid intake especially during exercise, as it can lead to serious health risks. It would also be advisable that that the client should decrease alcohol intake in the future due to the health risks involved however the student lifestyle can be a huge constraint to the client meeting these requirements. Summary The investigation shows that the subject increased the macronutrient intake for carbohydrate, protein and fats, although more still needs to be done in order for the client to meet the demands of an active lifestyle. The post intervention results show that carbohydrate amounts improved by 121g, proteins by 20.1g and fats by 7.8g. The subject showed improvements in fluid intake that has been known to be detrimental in performance enhancement (Sawky, 1992; Cheavront et al, 2003) as well as decreasing alcohol intake. The dietary modifications were imperative in terms of improving nutritional status and enhance performance although limitations due to student lifestyle will always play a negative part on nutritional status. Conversely the subject would still be advised to increase macronutrient intake in the future to meet the demands that soccer impose. Potential future research could focus on the dietary advice for the student population, including simple and cost effective stratagies to improve nutritional status. ...read more.

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