Nutrition Deterioration

INTRODUCTION

Th e human diet must provide enough calories to meet daily energy needs, together with carbohydrates, essential amino acids, essential fats, minerals and vitamins for proper metabolism. During short-term emergencies you should be focused on food as a fuel. Don’t worry about nutrition. For emergencies longer than 3 weeks, complete nutrition plays a more important role.

CALORIES

Calories are the measurement of energy stored in foods. Th e human body uses food as its fuel. Active adult females consume 2,400 calories per day, while inactive females consume approximately 1,800 calories per day. Active males can consume as many as 3,000 calories per day and 2,400 if inactive. Older adults and teenagers will consume 200-300 fewer calories than younger adults. Most average this requirement to be 2,000 calories per person, per day as minimum. In the absence of food, the body uses its reserve fuel (glycogen). Glycogen is stored as fat in the body. When fat reserves are low or gone, the body will begin to destroy and consume its own protein (muscle).

CARBOHYDRATES

Carbohydrates are carbon-containing compounds such as sugars and simple starches. Th ese are termed simple carbohydrates. More complex forms exist and are part of the structure of grains, beans, and vegetables. Humans can consume these carbohydrates and use them as fuel and as building blocks for substrates the body needs.

ESSENTIAL AmINO ACIDS

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. When plant or animal protein is consumed, it is broken down into amino acids. Th ese can then be used in human metabolism. An absence of one or more essential amino acids over a period of weeks to months can lead to malnourishment symptoms of apathy, diarrhea, inactivity, failure to grow, fl aky skin, fatty liver, and edema of the belly and legs. Excess amino acids can also be used as fuel for the body (calories).

ESSENTIAL FATS

Th ree key fatty acids are needed in the diet: linoleic acid, linolenic acid, and arachidonic acid. Th ese are found in grain, vegetable, or nut oils.

mINERALS

Only small levels of minerals are needed for proper nutrition. Th ese minerals are scavenged from many sources and it is rare for anyone consuming a regular diet to have a defi ciency. In the overall scheme of nutrition, minerals should be of the least worry.

Vitamins serve as metabolic assistants in many vital bodily functions. Vitamins A, B (1,2,3,12), C, D, E, K, and folic acid are required. Deficiencies lead to specific diseases such as beriberi and rickets. During short-term emergencies it is not necessary to worry about vitamin content of foods. It usually takes several weeks to months of deficiency before any symptoms appear. After an emergency, vitamin deficiency symptoms can rapidly disappear after consuming nutritious foods or supplements.

E of storing foods on nutritional content

Foods are complex mixtures of chemicals. During storage over time, these chemicals can break down or change. For the most part, the body can still use carbohydrates, amino acids, fats, and minerals that have been chemically changed during storage (Park, 1987). This means food storage, no matter how old, no matter how bad it tastes, will still provide fuel (calories) and nutrition. Vitamins are the only nutrient group that can break down to an unusable state. Therefore, during 3 week or longer emergencies, vitamin deficiency is increasingly important.

VITAMIN DETERIORATION

Oxygen, moisture, high temperature, prolonged cooking and storage time, pH, and light can affect the nutritional content of foods. Control of these factors helps to retain vitamin content of foods. Storage and cooking can be the cause for the loss of up to half of nutrients in food (Bastin, 2000).

Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) is the most unstable. Almost immediately after harvest, vitamin C decreases rapidly in foods. It also decreases during storage, drying, and heating (Morris et al., 2004).

Vitamin B 1 (Thiamine) is damaged by high temperatures and in neutral and alkaline conditions, such as baking soda and baking powder. Vitamin B 1 also leaches out into cooking water (Morris et al., 2004).

Vitamin B 2 (Riboflavin) is sensitive to light at neutral and alkaline conditions (baking soda and baking powder). It is somewhat heat stable when in neutral conditions and sensitive to heat when under alkaline conditions (Morris et al., 2004).

Vitamin B 3 is one of the most stable vitamins, but it also leaches into cooking water (Morris et al., 2004).

Folate levels decrease with prolonged storage and heat and is lost in cooking water (Morris et al., 2004).

Vitamin B 6 is heat stable in alkaline as well as acidic conditions (Morris et al., 2004).

Vitamin B 12 is destroyed by light and high pH levels (Morris et al., 2004).

Vitamin A is easily destroyed by heat and is oxidized easily (Morris et al., 2004).

Vitamin D is easily oxidized by heat and light (Morris et al., 2004).

Vitamin E is also easily oxidized (Morris et al., 2004).

SUMM ARY

Nutrient loss during food storage is limited to vitamins. Other nutrition will remain including carbohydrates, essential amino acids, essential fats, and minerals. Older stored foods should not be discarded for fear of nutrition loss. Instead, keep these items until they are replaced (NDSU, 1998). An old (safe) commercially canned food with all vitamins deteriorated has more nutrition than nothing at all. To compensate for vitamin loss during long-term emergencies, consider storing multivitamins or some sort of fresh food to meet vitamin needs. One may sprout wheat looking for vitamins. Wheat grass tastes and is equally as nutritious as Kentucky blue, burmuda, or zoysia grass (CSU, 2011).