Habitual Dietary Patterns and Diseases - Essay Example

Running Head: Dietary Patterns and Diseases Habitual Dietary Patterns and Diseases s Habitual Dietary Patterns and Diseases When the discomfort is caused by an abnormality of the mind or the body, it is known as a 'Disease'. It has been observed and added to its definition that people also get distress, dysfunction, and even dies who are afflicted with some disease. In broader terms, injuries, syndromes, symptoms, disabilities, infections, atypical variations of structures, and deviant behaviors are also used under the umbrella of the Disease. However, when pathogens invade the body, it is called a Disease, in narrow sense. In nutrition, when a person consumed an amount of food, it is known as 'Diet'. When an individual makes some habitual decisions regarding the selection of foods for eating purpose, they are named as 'Dietary Habits or Patterns'. In this regard, it only depend on the individual, whether he/she chooses healthy or less healthy dietary choices, which might be the reason of diseases in the future life. It has also been observed by the nutritionists that culture and location plays an important role in the development of a dietary habit of a person, as some food preferences and food taboos are hold by each culture in each location. Vitamins, fuel, and minerals are required in a proper nutritional diet, in which proteins, fats, and carbohydrates play their important role in defending disease germs, in order to keep an individual healthy. Several studies have observed and indicated that various diseases like coronary heart diseases, circulatory diseases, and different cancers are caused by improper dietary patterns of people coming from different parts of the world. In this regard, it has been investigated and experts have seen that intake of excessive fat through diet of less fruits and vegetables and high percentage of fat goods, such as, snacks, chocolates, burgers, etc. has been one of the primary causes of any disease. Likewise, inadequate intake of fiber also causes and associates higher risk for colon cancer and other coronary heart diseases. From various cross-culture comparisons, significant positive connection has been identified between the mortality rate of coronary heart diseases and dietary fat having excess calories, fat, and especially saturated fat. In this regard, a study took place, in order to understand and analyze the different reasons and causes that are related to dietary patterns and chances of getting diseases due to it. The purpose of obtaining this information was to gather and review the dietary patterns perception of different professionals, students, housewives, etc., who lives in different parts of the world, having their different location, culture, food, and living, and the chances of confronting any disease due to their habitual dietary patterns in their lives. A research survey was designed for the abovementioned objective, which was then filled out by different people and students from various locations of the world. The study was related to the different eating patterns and habits of these people, their background, and the frequency of consumption of different food items in a cross-sectional survey, that is, before and after having any disease. In a study related to British nationals in the United Kingdom, it was observed by the intellectuals that they carried higher percentage of risks of getting breast, rectum, and colon cancer, than their counterparts living in their other countries. This shows that dietary changes may bring different unfavorable results in people from the different backgrounds. In contrast, these British nationals has less percentage of risks related to liver and stomach cancer, when compared with the people of others backgrounds that are living in other countries of the world. In light of different studies related to the Western and oriental dietary habits, one of the main differences was the intake of fat and fiber content in the people of these backgrounds. When a typical Asian diet was examined, it was seen that the Asian people preferred low fat, especially low animal fat in their diet. However, fiber was found on a large extent in their dietary patterns, than a typical United Kingdom diet. In different studies, it was determined that environmental factors effect the cancer risks more than the genetic ones, and if we analyze different environmental factors, the component that was found having the ability to increase those risks on a large extent was the dietary change in the people. Therefore, we can say and generalize that location brings different risks, as well as various advantages with its arrival in the students and people coming from various cultural and social backgrounds, in regard with their diet and eating habits, which might be or not be vulnerable to any disease. In order to understand the transmission of disease, experts observed that there are some diseases, which are found to be contagious and infectious to other people, such as, influenza, etc. A variety of mechanisms can transmit these infectious diseases. In this regard, experts have shown results that most of the diseases are caused by the contaminated water and food, as well as, due to the improper diet. In the result, proper nutrition can prevent a person from many diseases according to various health professionals and physicians. As mentioned previously, there are various and distinct dietary patterns around the world, which varies from each other due to their different eating traditions and cultures. In some cases, they are related with each other in terms of rates of getting a disease, such as, coronary heart disease. In this case, researches have shown the results that Western populations are more vulnerable to this type of disease, as compared to their counterparts in Mediterranean and Asian regions. The reason of low rates of diseases in Asian countries is their high intakes of fruits, vegetables, fish, and whole-grain products. However, Western population is getting high intakes of high-fat dairy products, red meat, and some other products that come from the animals, which is very low in the Mediterranean and Asian countries. Therefore, it has been proved by the health professionals that improper diet is one of the main and primary causes of getting a heart or any disease related to any other organ of the body. Many studies have shown some relation of diseases with the habitual dietary patterns. However, so far, no study has shown overall relation of a dietary pattern with the disease. In this regard, we can say that disease and habitual eating patterns of an individual are related with each other. Some other factors, such as, obesity and physical activity of an individual plays an important in exploiting a disease into an individual. Conceptually, it has been shown by various surveys and studies that isolated nutrients are not eaten and liked by most of the people around the world, which allows them to be vulnerable to various diseases. Meals having varieties of different and attractive foods are consumed by the people, which results in an improper diet. In the result, an individual allows the disease germs to infect him/her with the illness. When healthcare professionals study the relation between the disease and the habitual dietary patterns, they go through many difficulties, as dietary pattern is not a measurable thing, and experts cannot measure it directly through an instrument. Therefore, it is sometimes, very difficult to get exact and accurate results in this case. In this regard, experts apply factor analysis, which is an effective statistical method for the quantifying of dietary patterns of an individual. Another approach has been implemented by various experts, which is known as reductionist approach. The role of single nutrients in disease and habitual dietary patterns' relation is emphasized in it. In this regard, vitamin deficiency diseases have been identified and steps have been taken to prevent these diseases through different prevention strategies. It has showed that dietary cholesterol is one of the primary factors with high intakes of fat on serum cholesterol that influences the diseases in an individual. Therefore, this approach has also showed some relations of dietary habits with the diseases in a person. As mentioned previously, individual nutrients or foods were the main points of focus regarding the relations of habitual dietary patterns and disease in the studies that were done by the healthcare professionals and experts in the past. At present, some healthcare experts prepared a questionnaire that derived the results regarding the frequency of food that was consumed by a group of people in a specific location, in order to predict different risk factors that influence various diseases in an individual's body. In this regard, approximately 44, 875 male individuals participated in this study, which were in the age bracket of 40 to 75 years. These individuals were examined on the basis of their habitual dietary patterns, as well as, their physical environment and background. During the documentation, around 1100 cases of coronary heart diseases were found in the men, and these cases were then investigated on the basis of factory analysis approach by the experts. In the result, two major dietary patterns were identified by the experts with the help of the food frequency questionnaire that included approximately 131 food items and their consumption by these individuals. The higher intake of fruits, legumes, vegetables, fish, whole grains, and poultry were characterizes as prudent pattern by the professionals. Whereas, individuals with higher intake of red meat, sweets, desserts, refined grains, processed meat, high-fat dairy products, French fries, burgers, and snacks were included in the Western pattern. In this regard, the prudent pattern shows the relative risks as 1.1, 0.91, 0.82, 0.76, and 0.69 on the ratings of lowest to the highest quintiles. In contrast, the western pattern shows these relative risks as 0.9, 1.23, 1.38, 1.42, and 1.67, which shows increasing quintiles in those individuals. Some other factors like smoking of cigarettes, parental history regarding their myocardial infarction, and their body mass indexes were also came out to be associated during the subgroup analysis. This study shows that the food frequency questionnaire derived major dietary patterns, which creates few risks of getting diseases like coronary heart diseases, or some cancers in the individuals. In another study, 71, 770 female individuals were examined, who were between the ages of 38 to 63 years. This study was done by healthcare professionals, in order to get the overall relation of habitual dietary patterns and risks of getting stroke in these individuals, as similar to the previous one, the relationship of stroke risks and overall dietary patterns, was not examined in any previous studies. However, the stroke disease is influenced by many food intakes, was suggested by many experts. In this study, the same two dietary patterns of prudent and western were selected by the professionals. A proportional hazard model was used to examine the associations of risk factors of stroke with each dietary pattern of each female participant during the study. The prudent and western patterns were characterized on the basis of the previous study of the male individuals. The male individuals were followed up in eight years by the experts, whereas, the females individuals were followed up for fourteen years. During this period, seven hundred and ninety-one incidents of stroke were identified and examined by the surveyors. Four hundred and seventy-six incidents were related to ischemic, and one hundred and eighty-nine were hemorrhagic strokes in those females. On the examination, 1.59 relative risks were observed for the total strokes. Whereas, 1.57 for ischemic strokes in the females. The results showed that these infected females were used to take high intakes of red and processed meats, sweets and desserts, refined grains. These high intakes increased the rate of risk factors that influences the chances of stroke in the body of an individual. Whereas, it was observed and confirmed in this study that strokes and other diseases were prevented by the higher intakes of vegetables, fruits, fish, and whole grains. These high intakes play their role as defenders and protecting shield for many diseases. Decisively, it has been observed by various and different studies and surveys that there is a lot of variance in dietary patterns of individuals, which is influenced by their culture, sex, socio-economic status, ethnic group, location, etc. Thus, the replication of these studies is necessary to be applied in other locations, cultures, and populations of the world. Additionally, the availability of food items, and changes in food preferences can be altered by each individual as per his/her time and age. Finally, these studies derived two major dietary patterns that are applied by individuals in their lives, that are, prudent and western pattern. Explanation of variance in men was 19% and 15% that was given by the abovementioned two dietary patterns. Conclusively, habitual dietary patterns are inter-related with different and various diseases. The eating patterns vary, but influence the diseases to some extent with the help of other environmental factors that are associated with an individual's life. Health professionals, doctors, physicians, etc. have suggested higher intakes of vegetables, fruits, legumes, etc, in order to develop a healthy body. Similarly, some heart and other organ's diseases will be prevented by the lower intakes of processed and red meat, refined grains, high-fat dairy products, poultry, etc. in an individual's dietary pattern. We hope that nutrition intervention and education will be provided by practical guidance by our studies and findings. Because, it might be easy for healthcare professionals and general public to interpret risk factors of various diseases by overall patterns of dietary intake of different individuals as per their locations. References Michael Gershon Wohl. (1968). Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease: Dietotherapy. Lea and Febiger. Michael Marmot. (2005). Coronary Heart Disease Epidemiology. Oxford University Press Michael H. Merson. (2004). International Public Health: Diseases, Programs, Systems, and Policies. Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Sunita Bansal. (2004). Diet in Disease. Pustak Mahal. Willett W.C. (1998). Nutritional Epidemiology. Oxford University Press Willett W.C. (1998). Nutritional Epidemiology. Oxford University Press Read More