Nutritional Requirements - Adults, Child, infants and Teenagers Nutritional Requirements

It is rightly said that appropriate amount of nutrient is maintained in our body only by opting for a healthy and balanced diet. As proportionate amount of nutrients, vitamins and minerals are required in our body to stay healthy and fit and avoid illness. For the proper functioning of our body all the nutrients such as water, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins etc are required.

Some of them are enumerated as under:

Water - A typical requirement of 2-3 liters per day is preferred. If taken in excess may result in large output fistulae, nasogastric aspirates and diarrhea. If this proper intake is reduced then it may lead patient to oedema, hepatic failure, renal failure and brain oedema.  

Energy - The typical energy requirement is estimated as 7.5-10 MJ/ day i.e. 1800-2400 kcal per day. The disease increase resting energy amount but decreases physical activity. The extra energy is required in case of repletion and reduced energy in case of obesity.

Protein - The typical requirement amounts to 10-15g N/day i.e. 65-90g of protein per day. The excess amount of protein will be required in several catabolic conditions such as excessive burns.

Major minerals - The typical requirement for sodium and potassium amounts to 70-100 mmol per day. These mineral are required in increased amount in patients with gastrointestinal effluents. The excretion of these major minerals may result as an indication for additional requirement. Low requirement can be required for the patients of hypernatremea or hyperkalamea. The requirement of calcium and magnesium is only eternal than for parenteral nutrition because only a small proportion of this is absorbed by the gut.

Trace elements - For trace elements like iodine, fluoride, and selenium is required in equivalent amount for enteral and parenteral functions. For other trace elements such as zinc, iron, manganese, and chromium etc is required only for parenteral nutrition is substantially lower than for enteral function.

Vitamins - Many vitamins are given in greater quantities in patient receiving parenteral nutrition than those receiving enteral nutrition. The major reason behind this may be that the patient requiring parenteral nutrition may have increased requirements or partly because they have depleted pools of vitamins and partly because some vitamins degrade during storage. Vitamin K is usually absent in parenteral nutrition thus it needs to be administered separately.

An inadequate amount of nutrients is a deficiency. These deficiencies can be due to number of causes including dietary deficiency or conditions that interferes with the utilization of a nutrient within organisms that causes greater excretion of this nutrient.

Diseases caused by the deficiency of nutrients are:-

Scurvy - It is caused due to deficiency of vitamin C in diet. Scurvy is the disease of gums which may cause them spongy. Vitamin C can be obtained from citrus fruits like oranges, lemons etc.

Anemia - Anemias is caused due to deficiency of iron, in this person lacks energy and easily get tired. Iron is an important part of hemoglobin in the red blood cell which regulates the amount of oxygen in the blood.

Beriberi - the deficiency of vitamin B causes beriberi in which person experiences emotional disturbances, weak heart rate, lethargy, and weakness in limbs.