Week 8 Online Lecture Discussion Assignment-Lectures 11 and 12 – Micronutrients and Water Balance, Blood, Bone Health online discussion
Welcome to Week 8! This week we will investigate the importance of the micronutrients in our diet further will lectures and readings on water balance, blood and bone health. For the questions below, please be sure to answer Question 1, Question 2 or Question 3 completely. Then choose two or three of the remaining highlighted questions that are interesting to you that you would like to discuss further. Let’s get started!
Question 1. Are dietary supplements helpful or harmful? What do you think? take a look at this video first;
When it comes to Supplements, What’s Really in the Bottle? Supplements and Safety FRONTLINELinks to an external site.
Make sure to review the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) in our lecture and text.
Definition of a Dietary Supplement: A vitamin, a mineral, an amino acid, an herb, a botanical, a plant extract, or a combination of any of the above. Remember, these are not definied as ‘food’ by the FDA. The quality, purity, and consistency of dietary supplements are not closely monitored by the FDA
Question 2. Have your ever hiked down into the Grand Canyon? Why do you think it would be important to bring not just plenty of water, but food as well?
Discuss the condition hyponatremia, what causes it? Which electrolytes are particularly involved in fluid balance? Which are intracellular vs extracellular? Why would loss of electrolytes affect osmotic gradients in your brain (resulting in coma!). Would your brain cells be hypertonic, hypotonic or isotonic to surrounding fluid?
Question 3. Why is osteoporosis considered a ‘pediatric deficiency with geriatric consequences?
Describe osteoblasts, osteoclasts and osteocytes. How does estrogen (or its absence) affect osteoclast activity? What are some of the other micronutrients involved in bone deposition and bone and blood health? What is their role?
Now that you have reviewed the importance of estrogen for bone deposition, how do you think this relates to amenorrhea that results from eating disorders or REDS (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport)? Is lack of calcium in the diet an issue here? Why or why not?
After reviewing these lectures and readings, how do you think Vitamin A contributes to our immune system health? What is the effect of a lack of Vitamin D and Phosphorous on your health?
What about Vit C, the B-Vitamins, Vit E and Vit D, what role do they play?
Lastly, how does zinc play a role in immune system health?
We know Vitamin D plays an important role in immune system health, but what about the role of Vitamin D in bone health? How does vitamin D support bone health?
Notice that folic acid (folate) is very important during prenatal development as well as the production of healthy red blood cells. Can you describe two disorders that are a result of folate deficiency? What are good sources of folate in the diet? Why do some doctors recommend taking a ‘folic acid’ supplement?
Have you ever taken a supplement to ‘boost your energy’? See if you can find one (either online or in your pantry) and list some of the ingredients here. Based on the information presented in this lecture and chapters, do you think these ingredients truly provide an energy boost? Why or why not?
How would you explain to a friend the importance of B-Vitamins in your diet to boost your metabolism?
Can you describe two syndromes that are caused by lack of B-Vitamins in the diet? which one reached epidemic proportions in the U.S.?
Can you describe three minerals that are important for metabolic health? What support do they provide?
When we begin to review the lecture on micronutrients and blood health, we find another discussion of the importance of iron in the diet and iron availability. Please be sure to review these slides for a further discussion of heme and non-heme iron as well as iron deficient anemia.
Notice that when we talk about micronutrients and blood health, we find very important roles for some of the minerals in our diet as well as Vitamin K. How does vitamin K assist in our blood health? Now take a look at some of the minerals that are presented (besides iron). What role do these minerals play in blood health?
Did you know that all components of red blood cells are not produced in bone marrow? Recent research conducted at one of our own Bay Area institutions has provided some new insight into the role of lungs in red blood cell formation. Take a look!
Inside the Lungs: Making Blood
Take a look at the NIH research pages for more information on this topic.
An overlooked role for lungs in blood formationLinks to an external site.
Take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us after viewing this video clip and article…
Once again, as much as we know about the human body, there is still so much more to learn and discover. This is why proper nutrition is so important. You never know what a varied diet full of micronutrients may be doing for aspects of your physiology that have yet to be discovered.
That’s it for these two lectures. We will further study the micronutrients in an online presentation assignment on the micronutrients that will be due this week. Make sure to get an early start on this assignments and give yourself time to review other student presentations. As always, we have so much to share and learn from each other.
Don’t forget to comment on at least three other student posts for full credit.
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