Nutrition Through the Life Cycle

Nutritional needs do not remain the same as you age. The daily requirements of a nutrient can increase or decrease based upon factors such as growth patterns, activity levels, or other physical changes to name a few.

The Unit 8 assignment will give you an opportunity to review how nutritional needs change throughout the life cycle, and identify ways to improve an individual’s nutritional intake during the different stages.

You will be required to conduct research and search for peer reviewed articles. A peer reviewed article is an article where other experts/peers in a given field of study, review and critique the original author’s article. This process helps to ensure that the research methodology and results are valid and meet research standards. The Purdue Global Library is an excellent resource to conduct your research.

The following are resources that may assist you in completing this assignment: 

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2018, May 10). Healthy people 2020. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov. 

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (n.d.) Food and nutrition. Retrieved from https://www.usda.gov/topics/food-and-nutrition.

Assignment Instructions:

1. Identify one different key nutrient for each of the following age groups:
   1. Children (ages 2 to 8),
   2. Adolescents (ages 9 to 18),
   3. Adults (19-64), and
   4. Older adults (over age 65).
2. Identify at least two age-appropriate foods that would provide a high amount of the key nutrient selected for each age group.

• Suggest real foods and identify which nutrients the food contains that will improve the individual’s diet.
• Do not recommend supplements, such as multivitamins, or supplemental drinks as food recommendations.
• Make sure not to use the same nutrients for each age group.

1. Describe the importance of each respective nutrient for each of the identified age groups.
   1. Why does this age group require the nutrient?
   2. How does this nutrient promote development and wellness in the age group?
2. Locate one peer reviewed article on nutritional needs for one of the age groups (either children, adolescents, adults or older adults) from the Purdue Global library.

• Include author(s), date of publication, title of article, and source of article
• Write a summary regarding the key concepts of the article in at least 250 words.
  • What did the article state about the research?
  • What were the limitations identified regarding the research?
• How would you use this information when planning a diet for the selected age group? Your response should be at least 100-words.