4
piles of plates being broken in transit to the dining room. Retrieving small containers and individual glass and china dishes is a constant headache in many dietetic departments. These dishes seem to possess an incredible ability for dis- appearing into a baffling limbo. It is doubtful if many of them actually leave the hospital, but their uses within it may range from sugar bowls to soap dishes! This fluidity of movement must be assessed with the losses due to breakage in considering the cost of using such bowls. Many departments have resorted to the use of disposable paperware in an effort both to reduce this cost, and to ensure that enough containers will be available for the work of the department. Mono Con- tainers Ltd. have been experts in the production of paper containers for over 50 years. Their attractive stand showed that they are now actively engaged in present and future develop- ment. Their lightweight plastic trays, plates and dishes are illustrated in the photograph on page 14. They also make beakers, which can be capped, and which are eminently suitable for the service of fruit juices. Several dietetic departments are already using some or all of these useful and reason- ably priced articles, which do not impart off-flavours to the foods put into them. These plastic containers are not suitable for cooking in, but hot foods can be put into them, and all are, of course, waterproof. Samples and information are readily obtainable from the company. No one article can hope to describe succinctly all the items on show at Hotelympia. Even the most avid visitor, with very long suffering feet, usually took two days to see the displays com- prehensively. What does emerge from the exhibition is a pattern against which one can assess one’s existing facilities. An outline of the hospital building programme for the next ten years has recently been made public. These new hospitals, and those to be renovated and extended, will form the hospital service in this country for the immedi- ately foreseeable future. What sort of kitchens and food scrvice facilities should they contain? Opportunities exist now for planning and advising on apparatus which can meet the future needs of these institutions. Visual Aids. for Teaching Nutrition BY ELIZABETH A. DRURY Food Scieizce aizd Atomic Energjj Division, Ministry of Agricirlture, Fis1icric.y uiid Food HERE IS IN this country no universal method of teaching nutrition, nor T one which gives hard and fast rules in quantitative terms, such as the Basic Seven of the United States. With the usual British spirit of compromise, several methods of teaching simple nutrition are at present used, but because of recent nutritional research especially on fats and the relation of diet to dental caries and also because of present uncertainty these methods may need critical examination. The methods in use can be classified into three broad groups, according to their approach. First, nutrition can be taught in terms of the chemical nature of nutrients. Second, it can be taught in terms of the functions of foods. This method, usually known as the Three Food Groups, i.e., body-building, protective and energy giving foods, was 16 Int J Food Sci Nutr 1960.14:16-19. Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by McMaster University on 11/10/14. For personal use only.

Visual Aids for Teaching Nutrition

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Visual Aids for Teaching Nutrition

piles of plates being broken in transit to the dining room.

Retrieving small containers and individual glass and china dishes is a constant headache in many dietetic departments. These dishes seem to possess an incredible ability for dis- appearing into a baffling limbo. It is doubtful if many of them actually leave the hospital, but their uses within it may range from sugar bowls to soap dishes! This fluidity of movement must be assessed with the losses due to breakage in considering the cost of using such bowls. Many departments have resorted to the use of disposable paperware in an effort both to reduce this cost, and to ensure that enough containers will be available for the work of the department. Mono Con- tainers Ltd. have been experts in the production of paper containers for over 50 years. Their attractive stand showed that they are now actively engaged in present and future develop- ment. Their lightweight plastic trays, plates and dishes are illustrated in the photograph on page 14. They also make beakers, which can be capped, and which are eminently suitable for the service of fruit juices. Several

dietetic departments are already using some or all of these useful and reason- ably priced articles, which do not impart off-flavours to the foods put into them. These plastic containers are not suitable for cooking in, but hot foods can be put into them, and all are, of course, waterproof. Samples and information are readily obtainable from the company.

No one article can hope to describe succinctly all the items on show at Hotelympia. Even the most avid visitor, with very long suffering feet, usually took two days to see the displays com- prehensively. What does emerge from the exhibition is a pattern against which one can assess one’s existing facilities. An outline of the hospital building programme for the next ten years has recently been made public. These new hospitals, and those to be renovated and extended, will form the hospital service in this country for the immedi- ately foreseeable future. What sort of kitchens and food scrvice facilities should they contain? Opportunities exist now for planning and advising on apparatus which can meet the future needs of these institutions.

Visual Aids. for Teaching Nutrition BY ELIZABETH A. DRURY

Food Scieizce aizd Atomic Energjj Division, Ministry of Agricirlture, Fis1icric.y uiid Food

HERE IS IN this country no universal method of teaching nutrition, nor T one which gives hard and fast

rules in quantitative terms, such as the Basic Seven of the United States. With the usual British spirit of compromise, several methods of teaching simple nutrition are at present used, but because of recent nutritional research especially on fats and the relation of diet to dental caries and also because of

present uncertainty these methods may need critical examination.

The methods in use can be classified into three broad groups, according to their approach. First, nutrition can be taught in terms of the chemical nature of nutrients. Second, it can be taught in terms of the functions of foods. This method, usually known as the Three Food Groups, i.e., body-building, protective and energy giving foods, was

16

Int J

Foo

d Sc

i Nut

r 19

60.1

4:16

-19.

Dow

nloa

ded

from

info

rmah

ealth

care

.com

by

McM

aste

r U

nive

rsity

on

11/1

0/14

. For

per

sona

l use

onl

y.

Page 2: Visual Aids for Teaching Nutrition

",s.FOUR FOOD GROUPS CHEMICAL APPROACH FUNCTIONAL APPROACH t

eread cereals group

Carbahydrata

Minerals

Protein

Vitamins

Energy production

Building and nahtanance

* Protective (Controt, regulation and direction of body processes

Fig. 1 - Relating the three approaches

developed during World War IT when rationing was in force. It is simple and requires little background knowledge ; it was an effective way of expressing food requirements in quantitative terms in times of rationing and food control, but is less easy to express in these terms at the present time.

The third approach is in terms of foods. This rather inflexible but simple method is used in the United States, Canada, Australia and many other countries. It is based on foods grouped according to their nutrient content and expressed quantitatively in the number of portions of each group of foods which should be taken daily by different categories, e.g., pregnant women, child- ren, adults, etc. It should be borne in mind that the quantities of foods recommended for adults in both the Basic Seven and Four of the United States, for instance, supply about three- quarters of the requirements of all nutrients and at the same time about 1,500 Calories. Their use as a guide to low-calorie diets may therefore be limited.

Sometimes the method used in teaching nutrition can, in practice, incorporate all three approaches; it can be based on the chemical and functional approach and expressed

quantitatively in terms of foods in a similar way to the food groups used in the United States, Canada or Australia. Fig. 1 shows that these three approaches can be related to each other in this way quite logically and satisfactorily.

Material for teaching nutrition in this country may be concerned with any one of these three approaches. Because the methods are inter-related, the material based on a different approach to that being used, is not necessaiily unsuitable or inapplicable. This gives a wider choice of visual aids. The amount of teaching material, produced in the United Kingdom is, however, fairly limited. The Educational Founda- tion for Visual Aids has compiled cata- logues of such material. The Foundation is under the aegis of the National Com- mittee for Visual Aids in Education which determines a national visual aids policy incorporating the views and expressing the needs of Local Authori- ties and teachers. Two of the catalogues include nutrition teaching material. These cover wall-charts and films and filmstrips. A short description is given of thc content of the chart or film, together with particulars of their cost (if any), their distributors, and the age groups for which they are most suitable.

Home Economics and Domestic Sub-

17

Int J

Foo

d Sc

i Nut

r 19

60.1

4:16

-19.

Dow

nloa

ded

from

info

rmah

ealth

care

.com

by

McM

aste

r U

nive

rsity

on

11/1

0/14

. For

per

sona

l use

onl

y.

Page 3: Visual Aids for Teaching Nutrition

jects Review have also compiled a list of teaching aids relating particularly to domestic science. This includes material that may be of use in teaching nutrition, especially if it is taught in relation to food preparation and cookery. The list does not describe the material in much detail. Although these three publications are for school teachers, many of the visual aids which they include are also suitable for teaching simple nutrition to other groups such as nurses, patients, womens’ organizations, etc. Information about material issued since the date of these publications can be obtained from reviews in such journals as Nutrition, Home Economics and Domestic Sub- jects Review and Visual Education.

Only a little of the visual material available relates to general nutrition; much is issued by industry and is con- cerned with special groups of the population or individual foods. Ex- amples of the general nutrition material that has been issued in recent years include the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food’s set of simple charts which are based on the Three Food Groups (the protective foods have been divided into fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins). These depict the foods in each group; they are available free of charge. One firm of manufacturers have available five bar- charts” showing the vitamin and mineral content of foods, (cereals, fruits, vege- tables, meat and fish, dairy products) and one showing the content of protein, fat and carbohydrate in foods. Visual aids produced for teaching nutrition to special groups include the leaflet issued by the Biitish Dietetic Association and the National Old Peoples’ Welfare Council entitled “Easy eating for the Over Sixties” and two simple wall charts* (available free of charge) on Food for Children, aged 1 to 5 and Food for Expectant Mothers.

Material which has been issued recently and which relates to individual foods includes the colourful charts published by the National Milk Publi- city Council, particularly “What happens when you drink a glass of milk”. This chart is based on the three food groups. Another, “Milk - its importance in a well-planned diet” is based on five groups of foods; milk; meat, fish, cheese and eggs; cereals, sugars, fats, etc; fruit and vegetables. These charts are available free and issued with teaching notes. The Cheese Bureau distribute free attractively illus- trated bulletins containing recipes and notes on the production, nutritive value and storage of cheese. The Bureau has also prepared three wall-charts on the nutritive value of cheese. The White Fish Authority has an excellent booklet, for free distribution. - “All about fish”-which includes a section on the nutritive value of fish as well as recipes and other useful information. Bar-charts* are published (free of cost) showing the Vitamin C content of helpings of fruit. Other material is available from industry and from Marketing Boards and Organizations such as the Egg Marketing Board, the Potato Marketing Board, and the Flour Advisory Bureau.

Films and filmstrips similarly cover general nutrition, special groups or individual foods. A general filmstrip which has been issued fairly recently is the Story of Vitamins.* Both a film and a film-strip on Nutrition in Preg- nancy have been issued. The film is available, on loan, free of charge. An example of a filmstrip on an individual food is “Cheese - its value as a Food”, produced for the Cheese Bureau. Films listed in the catalogues can usually be hired either at a reasonable fee or free, from the producers, the Central Office of Information or the Educational Found- ation for Visual Aids. Filmstrips usually

* Further details of this material can be obtained by application to the Editor, Nutrition, 68 Welbeck Street, London, W.I.

18

Int J

Foo

d Sc

i Nut

r 19

60.1

4:16

-19.

Dow

nloa

ded

from

info

rmah

ealth

care

.com

by

McM

aste

r U

nive

rsity

on

11/1

0/14

. For

per

sona

l use

onl

y.

Page 4: Visual Aids for Teaching Nutrition

have to be purchased.

teaching nutrition is available, but attractive displays can be made. often the most effective and appropriate charts and posters are home-made by the teacher herself, and a wonderful variety of stationery can now be ob- tained from school suppliers. Advertise- ments in glossy magazines are also a

good source of colourful pictures of Thus much material to help in foods. With a little ingenuity most

Further, the Educational Foundation for Visual Aids is able to give advice, on all aspects of visual education. If all the sources of material are tapped, those who teach nutrition should not be hampered by lack of visual aids.

Nutrition Education in Czechoslo vakia ISITORS TO PRAGUE sometimes comment that every other shop V is a bookstore and the ones in

between seem to be selling food. This may be an exaggeration, but it is actually a fact that the average daily intake of a Czechoslovak citizen is 3,099 calories, which puts his diet on a level with the average in the U.S. and West Germany, and ahead of France and Austria.

Visitors also notice anothei less happy aspect of Czech eating habits, and that is their propensity for doughy foods, for fats and sweets. Czech dumplings (knedliky) have been the butt of many unkind jokes, and the practise of stopping for a mid-morning snack of three whipped-cream cakes surprises many not familiar with this Central European custom.

All this, of course, has its historical and geographical explanation. The Czech lands were more suited to growing grain and sugar beet than to fruit and vegetables, and to raising fat pigs and geese than cattle. Add to this the influence of the German, and partic- ularly the Viennese, cuisine, and the inventiveness of the Czech housewife who has created a record number of thick gravies to accompany dumplings,

Reproduced from Prague Nebs Letter by kind permission of the editor.

and you have the present situation. According to the Ministry of Health, one quarter of Czech men are more than 10 per cent. overweight and the figure is somewhat higher for women.

The experts are naturally concerned not only about overweight but about the other consequences to bones, muscles, blood circulation and nerves as well as to the ability to resist disease, and lack of sufficient vitamins, proteins and minerals in the diet.

Especially in the last few years, when supplies have made it possible to offer a really balanced diet and not just good advice, they have been waging an active campaign on behalf of fruit, vegetables, dairy products, lean meat, and against “empty calories” (white flour, sugar, lard).

Fortunately, a planned economy, nationalized industry and a national health service make it possible to tackle the problem in an organized way and on all fronts. The third Five-Year Plan calls for large increases in supplies of milk, vegetables, fruit, meat.

The organization which acts as a common forum and to a degree a co- ordinating body for the efforts of the ministry of education, the food in- dustry, internal trade, agriculture, and health, as well as the Czechoslovak Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other organizations, is the Society for

19

Int J

Foo

d Sc

i Nut

r 19

60.1

4:16

-19.

Dow

nloa

ded

from

info

rmah

ealth

care

.com

by

McM

aste

r U

nive

rsity

on

11/1

0/14

. For

per

sona

l use

onl

y.