ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY, KHUSTIA

Topic:An Assignment On Community Nutrition

Submitted to

Shammy Akter
Department of Applied Nutrition & Food Tech. Islamic University, Kushtia

Submitted By

Md Billal Goni
Roll:1316005
Session : 2014-15
Department Of Applied Nutrition And Food Technology
Islamic University, Kushtia
 Introduction to Community Nutrition
Description
Introduction to the field of community nutrition and its role in health and health care. The focus is on the
process and theoretical foundations of nutrition education and the theories, methods and research
perspectives applicable to nutrition education. The role of the community nutritionist in determining,
delivering and managing community nutrition services is emphasized along with the tools, skills and
techniques necessary for developing effective services. 1

Definition

Community nutrition is the process of helping individuals and groups develop healthy eating habits in
order to promote wellness and prevent disease.

Purpose

Americans increasingly eat a diet that is high in saturated fat and refined sugars and lacking in fruits,
vegetables, and whole grains. Poor dietary habits are linked to health conditions such as obesity , diabetes,
heart disease , strokes, and some forms of cancer . With more than half of Americans classified as
overweight or obese, organizations including the American Dietetic Association strive to increase
awareness about the importance of a healthy diet and exercise .

The goal of community nutrition is to educate individuals and groups so that they adopt healthy eating
habits. Dieticians and nutritionists work with many other health care professionals in promoting improved
community nutrition. Their efforts emphasize a preventive approach in educating individuals in how a
change in dietary habits will reduce the risk of illness. Community nutrition focuses on all age groups.
The groups targeted range from babies to pregnant women to older adults. For example, a young pregnant
woman may not realize how poor eating habits affect her developing fetus or she may be unaware of the
importance of breastfeeding. Older adults may lose interest in eating due to loneliness, inability to prepare
meals, or a physical condition such as difficulty chewing. Individuals with diabetes may not understand
the need to control their blood glucose levels through diet as well as medication.

Obesity is an issue for many age groups. Causes include lack of physical education programs in schools
and an overly busy lifestyle for adults. The availability of fast food and supersized items are regarded
positively because of their cost and convenience. Their accessibility and convenience often prompts
people to make unhealthy food choices. In a school cafeteria, for example, a child may bypass a salad in
favor of fries and a soda. A moviegoer may choose to buy a tub of buttered popcorn because the purchase
price includes a free refill.

Community nutrition programs attempt to change attitudes so that a diet rich in fruit, vegetables, and
whole grains is more appealing than diet high in fats and sugars. While sweet, high fat foods may be an
occasional treat, community nutrition emphasizes a lifetime of routine healthy eating. 2

Basic Concepts to Understanding the Community System 3

Community
- Is known as an umbrella term because it encompasses a myriad of concepts.
The broad definition states that community has a complex level of human
behavior that is geographically based on groups of people who share common
values, goals, and interests.
Community often entails
- Civic habits/decision making
- Social norms that drive desirable behavior
- The livability of the local area
- A form of recreation
- Roles of members
- A distinct sense of culture and identity
Communities also
- Provide mutual support in times of celebration and crisis
- Provide cohesiveness for members to band together and accomplish things
- Serves as the heart, the soul, the nervous system, and the lifeblood of
human society
Small vs. Large Communities
- Small= apartment buildings, apartment complex, apartment floor, and families
- Large= regional, national, and global communities

Community Admission
- a person or group of people are not limited to only being a part of one
community; a person can be a member of a religious, ethnic, political,
business, labor, and professional community of interest.

A community is the common life of beings who are guided essentially from within,
actively, spontaneously, and freelyrelating themselves to one another, weaving
for themselves a complex web of social unity. ~ Robert Maclver~

Traditional Approach to Communities

- Often seen as being exclusive, inflexible, isolated, unchanging, monolithic,
and homogeneous.
- Associated with geographical location; place that we carry out our
daily activities
o Sharing limited territorial space of residence such as a city, town, or
village
- Associated with Function
o Local participation, distribution, and consumption of goods and
services
 o Socialization or the transmission of knowledge, values, and behavior
patterns to members by individuals that are located in the group
o Social control to influence members behaviors to conform to
community norms through the accepted judicial process
o Mutual support for community members in times of need
- Community is seen as a social system
o It offers a more comprehensive/holistic view of community by
allowing us to see the components or subsystems of a community
o It allows us to recognize the influence on communities from other
systems and subsystems in the larger environment
o Community acknowledges that influences are reciprocal
between system components and a communitys environment.

Alternative Approaches to Communities

- Includes: interpretive, intuitive, qualitative, subjective approaches, feminist
perspectives, diversity focused visions, and personal and integrative
perspectives that address oppression and discrimination in the community.
- Approach offers a more holistic approach to understand the many interrelated
elements of community life than in the past.
o Using the ideas such as: social work policy, research, practice, human
diversity, social justice, values, ethics, and field practicum
- This new approach integrates the knowledge based on the theoretical approach
to understanding community by using:
o Community building
o Community renewal
o Community assets and strengths o
Social capital
o Civil ethnic and civil society

People and Place Based Strategies

- A community-building approach looks at the whole picture, acknowledges,
the interconnectedness of people-and place-based strategies, and recommends
a course of action in which solutions are tied together in such a way that they
reinforce one another.

8 Community-Building Principles
- 1.) Integrate community development and human service strategies
- 2.) Forge partnerships through collaboration
- 3.) Build on community strengths
- 4.) Start from local conditions
- 5.) Foster broad community participation
- 6.) Require racial equity
- 7.) Value cultural strengths
- 8.)Support families and children

Identificational communities
- Groups such as ethnic/cultural/religious groups, patient groups, friendship
groups, and workplace groups
Sustainable Community
- Defined uniquely by each community. Often on the basis of individual
interests, needs, and culture.
- Also focuses on long-term integrated systems approaches,
healthy communities, and quality of life issues by addressing
economic, environmental, and social issues.
- The concept recognizes that economic, environmental, and social issues are
interdependent and integrated.

Factors Found as to why Communities Decline

- Families moving often-creates severed relationships
- Fear of others- people have become increasingly wary of each other, and dont
trust other people
- Americas infatuation with extreme individualism degrades the potential
of community life in the future
- Our obsession with consumerism and materialism, thinking that it promotes
happiness. Self-gratification is really just a way to cover up human suffering
- Severe over taxation=decline of civic/social service institutions that help to
sustain communities
- Individuals become disconnected because people begin to move against others
due to race, gender, cultural background, religion, or sexual orientation.

Factors affecting community health 4

1. HEALTH COMMUNITY AFFECTING FACTORS
2. FACTORS AFFECTING COMMUNITY HEALTH CAN BE GROUPED INTO:
Physical factors Social/Cultural factors Community organization Individual
behavior
3. Physical factors; Industrial development; Communities that are industrially
developed are more likely to be affected by numerous diseases due to the toxic waste
products from the industries that are released into water bodies and the atmosphere and
due to congestion of settlement leading to slum development hence contagious diseases
compared to areas that are not industrially developed.
4. WATER CONTAMINATION FROM INDUSTRIAL DISCHARGE
5. AIR POLUTION
6. Community size; A densely populated or over populated community can easily be
attacked by communicable diseases
7. Geographical location; Some communities are more prone to diseases due to The
geographical location For example +Some communities are located in swampy areas
ARE MORE PRONE TO DISEASES especially during heavy rains they are affected by
floods which can lead @ manipulation of disease causing organisms if the water is
stagnant @ to spread of disease causing organisms For example malaria , diarrhea disease
8. Environment; A clean environment is very vital to the proper health of a community
which minimizes the occurrence and transmission of diseases, unlike a dirty environment
which easily leads to outbreak of diseases.
9. Social/cultural factors
10. Traditions Beliefs Beliefs or traditions possessed by communities greatly affect
the health of its people for example FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION (FGM)
 11. FGM,
12. ECONOMY
13. Economy; A community that is economically well off has low chances of
suffering from disease breakouts because they have proper health care and water drainage
systems unlike a poor community.
14. Government; since the government involves planning, implementing and
provision of community services such as water supply, medical supplies and other needs
which can directly affect the community health
15. Community organization Ways in which communities organize their resources
such as taxes which can be very helpful in control of diseases and supply of sufficient and
efficient medical care even in times of crisis unlike communities without proper
accountability of their taxes which can partly be allocated to the health sector.
16. Educational factors; poor education or illiteracy affects the health of a community
when people doesnt have education on how they can prevent themselves from diseases.
Example health education on the use of mosquito treated nets to prevent malaria, health
education on the environmental hygiene so as to prevent diseases such as cholera and
trachoma.
17. Individual behavior; Community health is greatly influenced by individuals, their
personal health, habits etc. And in order to achieve a healthy community, it takes a team
work. For instance proper disposal of waste products from and individuals compound,
clearing all stagnant water in the compound to prevent harboring of mosquitoes, active
smokers to quit smoking to avoid passive smokers thus preventing lung cancer,
abstainance from sexual activities and for sexually active individuals to use protection to
prevent the spread of HIV/AIDs and STDs etc. Thus proper individual healthy living can
greatly promote a healthy community.
18. This is not the end!!! STAY CALM
19. REFERENCES Encyclopedia of Public Health A-Z (2 Volume Set) (2008) International
Encyclopedia of Public Health - 1st Edition Health-Assessment-Section 1st EDITION

THE IMPORTANCE OF NUTRITION EDUCATION AND WHY IT IS KEY

FOR EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS 5
School nutrition is often the last district partner to be brought into the change process, but
it is the one upon which all others rely for success.

School districts, especially those that undergo a food policy development process, should
plan on implementing a program of professional development for nutrition services staff.
Professional development is a direct and critical investment in the individuals the district
is counting on to make the change.

New menus based on cooking from scratch may require nutrition services employees to
learn new skills, especially if the current service is thaw-and-serve. The menus the
district intends to serve will tell you what skills your staff needs to acquire. It is also true
that employees jobs become more rewarding and satisfying when the work is less
routine and requires skillful execution. It is through professional development that the
nutrition services staff acquires those valuable and transferable skills, which might
 qualify them for higher pay. When staff members find the work more satisfying, and
receive the respect they deserve, enthusiasm will build for the new program.

Many nutrition services directors provide professional development. The California

Department of Education offers a food service professional development infrastructure
through universities and colleges. Discussion of making such training mandatory is under
way.

At a policy level, I would advocate for better pay for nutrition services staff, and
development of some professional requirements and expectations for anyone who is
involved in the preparation of food for children. These would include cooking skills,
basic sanitation, and safety training. Were not there yet.

The emphasis on the farm-to-school approach to improving food in schools comes at a

time when we are facing a national health crisis, and much of that crisis is nutrition-
related. Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions. Some 4.7 million children
between 6 and 17 (11 percent) are overweight; the prevalence of obesity among children
aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 19.6 percent in 2008. The
prevalence of obesity among adolescents aged 12 to 19 years increased from 5.0 percent
to 18.1 percent. Type II diabetes was once called adult onset diabetes. Today, its one
of the most serious health problems of overweight children, and its rates have recently
escalated.

Reports to the U. S. Department of Agriculture show that only 2 percent of school-age children
meet the USDAs serving recommendations for all five major food groups. Just over half eat less
than one serving of fruit a day. Nearly 30 percent eat less than one serving a day of vegetables
that are not fried. Added sugar contributes to 20 percent of total food energy in childrens diets;
56 percent to 85 percent of children consume soda on any given day.

Food taboos in Bangladesh 6

As a result of wrong & unscientific belief, a number of foods are excluded from the list of food
items by people. Most of these affect pregnant women & lactating mothers & convalescent
people greatly. This is a common belief, for instance, that the pregnant mother should eat less to
keep the size of the baby minimum for easy delivery. This is totally misleading & dangerous. A
pregnant mother should eat one-fourth amount of food more than her normal requirement. Since
she needs to eat for her baby as well. Another food taboo prohibits intake of water at the time of
delivery of a baby. But the truth is that during delivery a mother loses huge amount of water as
sweat , along with blood & delivery fluid. To compensate for this loss, & to save the mother
from dehydration, sufficient amount of liquid should be given.
During pregnancy, mothers are often refused fruits like PAPAYA, BANANA, BLACK BERRY
, & many other nutritious fruits due to belief that these may affect the child. Often a pregnant
mother is not allowed to take eggs because of the belief that the eggs may interfere with the
pregnancy. In Bangladesh a notable taboo is that the new-born babies are not given
COLOSTRUM because of the belief that the thick material may upset the stomach. But the truth
is that it is a very nutritious food & contains a great number of antibodies which protect the
babies from diseases. Mother's milk is the best medicine for the baby.
Also people believe that PRAWN or SHRIMP causes reduction of milk secretion among
lactating mothers. But this belief has no scientific basis. Some people believe that banana causes
convulsions or tetanus in children. Another wrong practice is giving castor oil to children
suffering from indigestion. Also, in rural areas it is a common belief that citrus fruits will delay
healing process but in contrast it hastens the healing process.
However, the radio, television & especially newspapers have to play a role to eradicate this
dangerous food taboos or misconceptions. Also, various clubs and organisations can contribute
positively to stamp out these problems.
More importantly, the health department should address the issue.
Our combined efforts can remove these taboos from society to improve the health status of the
affected people.

1-http://ocw.usask.ca/PH/NUTR/350/
2-http://www.encyclopedia.com/caregiving/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/community-nutrition
3-http://www.d.umn.edu/~dfalk/hbse/matrix/comconcepts.pdf
4-https://www.slideshare.net/MiharbiIgnasm/factors-affecting-community-health-72756306
5-https://www.ecoliteracy.org/article/importance-nutrition-education-and-why-it-key-educational-success#
6-http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-28028 by Shammy Akter, Department of Applied Nutrition & Food
Tech. Islamic University, Kushtia