1.5 Nutritive Value of Foods

• The five food nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, mineral salts (plus water and fibre)
• The three food groups: energy-giving, body-building, protective
• The role (function) of each nutrient in the body
• Planning a balanced meal from the different food groups
• Fortification and enrichment of foods
• Nutritional deficiencies and disorders

• classify food nutrients according to the food groups
• analyse the role of food nutrients in the body
• plan meals from different food groups for proper nutrition
• appreciate different foods from various food groups

“How does knowledge on food nutrients promote healthy eating habits?”

“Why does the food you choose to eat affect your health?”

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1. Food nutrients and their roles
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The five food nutrients plus water and fibre, how they group into energy-giving, body-building and protective foods, and the role each plays in the body.
2. Balanced meals, fortification and deficiencies
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Planning a balanced meal from the food groups, how foods are fortified and enriched to improve their value, and the common nutritional deficiencies - their causes, prevention and management.
3. Carbohydrates in Kenyan staples
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Ugali, githeri maize, rice and potatoes as everyday energy foods, and why sugar is extra, not the meal.
4. Proteins from milk, eggs, omena and beans
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Animal and plant body-building foods on a Kenyan plate, and why children need protein every day, not only on feast days.
5. Fats and oils in the diet
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Why a little cooking oil, avocado or nuts is useful energy, and why a diet of chips and mandazi every day is not.
6. Vitamins from sukuma, mango and other greens and fruit
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Vitamin A, C, B and D in familiar Kenyan foods, why greens should not be boiled to death, and what deficiency looks like.
7. Mineral salts, water and fibre
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Calcium from milk and omena, iron from sukuma, iodine from iodised salt, plus water and fibre as essentials on every Kenyan plate.
8. Classifying Kenyan foods into groups
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Sorting ugali, sukuma, githeri, milk, eggs, mango and omena into energy-giving, body-building and protective foods.
9. Reading food labels
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   How to read a Kenyan packet for ingredients, fortification, KEBS mark, expiry, storage and the nutrition table.
10. Nutritional deficiencies
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Kwashiorkor and marasmus, night blindness, scurvy, anaemia, rickets and goitre: causes, Kenyan prevention foods, and when to seek care.
11. Fortification and enrichment in Kenya
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Iodised salt, vitamin A in oil, and fortified maize flour: how adding or putting back nutrients in staples protects a whole population.
12. Planning balanced Kenyan meals
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Building a day of meals from ugali, githeri, sukuma, milk, eggs, mango and omena, matched to a child, a labourer and a pregnant woman.