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Cover of Nutrition Basics: An Active Approach v2.1
Published: 
May 2021
Page Count: 
600
ISBN (Digital): 
978-1-4533-3883-4

Nutrition Basics: An Active Approach

Version 2.1
By Maureen Zimmerman and Mary Elizabeth Snow

Included Supplements

Key Features

  • Updated to reflect the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025.  
  • Organized by physiological function (rather than organized by nutrient) to make it easier for non-majors to understand and apply the information.
  • Requires little or no prior knowledge of college-level chemistry, biology, or physiology.
  • Strong basis in rigorous scientific research that is presented in clear, easy-to-understand explanations and examples.
  • Focused on sustainable food behaviors by taking the environment and local economies into account when making food choices.
  • Supportive learning structure include
    • “Big Ideas” provide a preview of every chapter’s main theme.
    • “Key Terms” help students understand and become comfortable with important terminology.
    • “Interactive” features provide links to online learning tools and over 75 embedded videos and 450 hyperlinks provide high-interest opportunities to stimulate readers’ interactions with online content.
    • “Key Takeaways” at the end of every main section help students mentally consolidate new information while it is still fresh.
    • “Discussion Starters” and multi-level “Exercises” at the end of every chapter prompt interaction, analysis, and extend learning.
  • Customizable.

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Nutrition Basics: An Active Approach is suitable for courses on Personal Nutrition that cover basic information about food, food choices, and health. This book is appropriate for students not majoring in nutrition and courses generally taught at the undergraduate level at most two- and four-year colleges and universities.

Nutrition Basics: An Active Approach is a basic overview of nutrition that explores the relationship between nutrition and physiology. Students will receive a “behind the scenes” examination of health and disease in the body, while examining some of the popular myths about nutrition. Zimmerman and Snow discuss how to develop a foundation for making smart dietary choices as they discuss relevant topics such as obesity, vegetarianism, weight-loss supplements, and more.

New in This Version

  • Updated to reflect the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025.  
    • The first set of these guidelines to be organized by healthy dietary patterns by life stage, from birth through older adulthood. For the first time, there are chapters devoted to each life stage, including chapters on infants and toddlers and women who are pregnant or lactating.
    • Emphasizes the importance of choosing nutrient-dense foods and beverages in place of less healthy choices at every life stage, and it is never too early or too late to improve food and beverage choices to build a healthy dietary pattern.
  • Reflects the recent upates to the Physical Activity Guidelines.
  • Updated based on the release of Healthy People 2030.
  • Reflects the recent updates to Version 2.0
    • Added discussion on the impact of new food labeling laws and reviews on popular diets
    • New information on food insecurity and college students
    • Updated eating disorder content and terminology
    • Updated statistics on obesity, including trends and new treatments
      Updated content on sustainable food systems
    • New research on probiotics, high-fructose corn syrup, milk, and food allergies
    • Updated references, reflecting state-of-the-art recommendations on topics such as peanut allergies, infant feeding, protein intake, and more
    • Links to updated video content
    • New technology and apps for improving diets
  • About the Authors
  • Acknowledgments
  • Dedications
  • Preface

    • Chapter 1: Nutrition and You

  • 1.1 Defining Nutrition, Health, and Disease
  • 1.2 What Are Nutrients?
  • 1.3 The Broad Role of Nutritional Science
  • 1.4 Health Factors and Their Impact
  • 1.5 Assessing Personal Health
  • 1.6 A Fresh Perspective: Sustainable Food Systems
  • 1.7 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Chapter 2: Achieving a Healthy Diet

  • 2.1 A Healthy Philosophy toward Food
  • 2.2 What Is Nutritional Balance and Moderation?
  • 2.3 Understanding the Bigger Picture of Dietary Guidelines
  • 2.4 National Goals for Nutrition and Health: Healthy People 2030
  • 2.5 Recommendations for Optimal Health
  • 2.6 Understanding Dietary Reference Intakes
  • 2.7 Discovering Nutrition Facts
  • 2.8 When Enough Is Enough
  • 2.9 Nutrition and the Media
  • 2.10 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Chapter 3: Nutrition and the Human Body

  • 3.1 The Basic Structural and Functional Unit of Life: The Cell
  • 3.2 Digestion and Absorption
  • 3.3 Nutrients Are Essential for Organ Function
  • 3.4 Energy and Calories
  • 3.5 Digestion and Absorption Disorders That Can Compromise Health
  • 3.6 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Chapter 4: Carbohydrates

  • 4.1 A Closer Look at Carbohydrates
  • 4.2 Digestion and Absorption of Carbohydrates
  • 4.3 The Functions of Carbohydrates in the Body
  • 4.4 Looking Closely at Diabetes
  • 4.5 Health Consequences and Benefits of High-Carbohydrate Diets
  • 4.6 Carbohydrates and Personal Diet Choices
  • 4.7 The Food Industry: Functional Attributes of Carbohydrates and the Use of Sugar Substitutes
  • 4.8 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Chapter 5: Lipids

  • 5.1 What Are Lipids?
  • 5.2 How Lipids Work
  • 5.3 Digestion and Absorption of Lipids
  • 5.4 Understanding Blood Cholesterol
  • 5.5 Balancing Your Diet with Lipids
  • 5.6 Lipids and the Food Industry
  • 5.7 Lipids and Disease
  • 5.8 A Personal Choice about Lipids
  • 5.9 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Chapter 6: Proteins

  • 6.1 Defining Protein
  • 6.2 The Role of Proteins in Foods: Cooking and Denaturation
  • 6.3 Protein Digestion and Absorption
  • 6.4 Protein’s Functions in the Body
  • 6.5 Diseases Involving Proteins
  • 6.6 Proteins, Diet, and Personal Choices
  • 6.7 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Chapter 7: Nutrients Important to Fluid and Electrolyte Balance

  • 7.1 Overview of Fluid and Electrolyte Balance
  • 7.2 Water’s Importance to Vitality
  • 7.3 Regulation of Water Balance
  • 7.4 Electrolytes Important for Fluid Balance
  • 7.5 Consequences of Deficiency or Excess
  • 7.6 Water Concerns
  • 7.7 Popular Beverage Choices
  • 7.8 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Chapter 8: Nutrients Important as Antioxidants

  • 8.1 Generation of Free Radicals in the Body
  • 8.2 Antioxidant Micronutrients
  • 8.3 The Whole Nutrient Package versus Disease
  • 8.4 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Chapter 9: Nutrients Important for Bone Health

  • 9.1 Bone Structure and Function
  • 9.2 Bone Mineral Density Is an Indicator of Bone Health
  • 9.3 Micronutrients Essential for Bone Health: Calcium and Vitamin D
  • 9.4 Other Essential Micronutrients for Bone Health: Phosphorus, Magnesium, Fluoride, and Vitamin K
  • 9.5 Osteoporosis
  • 9.6 Risk Factors for Osteoporosis
  • 9.7 Osteoporosis Prevention and Treatment
  • 9.8 Deficiency, Supplementation, and Choices
  • 9.9 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Chapter 10: Nutrients Important for Metabolism and Blood Function

  • 10.1 Blood’s Function in the Body and in Metabolism Support
  • 10.2 Metabolism Overview
  • 10.3 Vitamins Important for Metabolism and for Blood Function and Renewal
  • 10.4 Minerals Important for Metabolism and for Blood Function and Renewal
  • 10.5 Iron-Deficiency Anemia
  • 10.6 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Chapter 11: Energy Balance and Body Weight

  • 11.1 Indicators of Health: Body Mass Index, Body Fat Content, and Fat Distribution
  • 11.2 Balancing Energy Input with Energy Output
  • 11.3 Too Little or Too Much Weight: What Are the Health Risks?
  • 11.4 Dietary, Behavioral, and Physical Activity Recommendations for Weight Management
  • 11.5 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Chapter 12: Nutrition through the Life Cycle: From Pregnancy to the Toddler Years

  • 12.1 The Human Life Cycle
  • 12.2 Pregnancy and Nutrition
  • 12.3 Infancy and Nutrition
  • 12.4 Nutrition in the Toddler Years
  • 12.5 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Chapter 13: Nutrition through the Life Cycle: From Childhood to the Elderly Years

  • 13.1 The Human Life Cycle Continues
  • 13.2 Childhood and Nutrition
  • 13.3 Puberty and Nutrition
  • 13.4 Older Adolescence and Nutrition
  • 13.5 Young Adulthood and Nutrition
  • 13.6 Middle Age and Nutrition
  • 13.7 Old Age and Nutrition
  • 13.8 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Chapter 14: Nutrition and Society: Food Politics and Perspectives

  • 14.1 Historical Perspectives on Food
  • 14.2 The Food Industry
  • 14.3 The Politics of Food
  • 14.4 Food Cost and Inflation
  • 14.5 The Issue of Food Security
  • 14.6 Nutrition and Your Health
  • 14.7 Diets around the World
  • 14.8 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Chapter 15: Achieving Optimal Health: Wellness and Nutrition

  • 15.1 Diet Trends and Health
  • 15.2 Fitness and Health
  • 15.3 Threats to Health
  • 15.4 Foodborne Illness and Food Safety
  • 15.5 Start Your Sustainable Future Today
  • 15.6 Careers in Nutrition
  • 15.7 End-of-Chapter Exercises

    • Appendix A: Dietary Reference Intakes Tables

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    Maureen Zimmerman Mesa Community College

    Dr. Maureen Zimmerman earned her undergraduate degree in Nutrition and Dietetics at Arizona State University, a Master's Degree in Public Health from the University of Hawaii, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership, with a specialization in educational research, from Northern Arizona University. She is a Registered Dietitian and has been a residential faculty member at Mesa Community College in Mesa, Arizona since 1991. She served as the Department Chair of Design, Family and Consumer Sciences and of the Applied Science Departments. Passionately and assiduously she assures that students not only learn, but that they enjoy learning and develop intellectual habits that will sustain them throughout life. Semester by semester Dr. Zimmerman applies learning science knowledge to the online and face-to-face classrooms. She works tirelessly to foster active engagement and to nurture the unique skills, experiences, and knowledge each student brings to the learning community. Her food first philosophy is summed up in this statement: “Enjoy real food, enjoy it with others, enjoy it in just the right amounts.”

    Mary Elizabeth Snow University of British Columbia

    Dr. Beth Snow earned a B.Sc.(Hons) in Biochemistry (with a minor in Drama) from McMaster University in 1999, an M.Sc. in Human Biology & Nutritional Sciences from the University of Guelph in 2000, a Ph.D. in Human Nutrition from the University of British Columbia in 2006 and an MBA from the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia in 2014. She also holds a Credentialed Evaluator designation from the Canadian Evaluation Society. Her Ph.D.research focused on the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the developing fetal skeleton and she has published in the journals Bone, Alcohol, Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching. Following her Ph.D. training, she spent two years working at the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women's Health, where she ran an interdisciplinary research training program. She currently works as an Evaluation Specialist in Public Health in Vancouver, BC, Canada, as an instructor at the Justice Institute of British Columbia, and as an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. Her teaching philosophy involves empowering students to take ownership of their own learning; she uses active learning techniques and encourages students to apply what they learn to real life. In addition to her busy career, Beth is a true foodie who always makes time to cook and share good food.

    Additions & Errata

    9/20/22: Removed what had been Figure 1.4

    8/9/22: FDA recalls (chapter 14.2) and Carbohydrates (chapter 4.1) dead video links removed, no suitable replacements found. Chapter 4.7, Discussion Started question 2 recast to not include no-longer-valid video link.

    12/14/21: Update Table 9.9 Changed "RDA" to "AI."

    8/26/21: Replaced broken link in Video 1.3 to new video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpG9OCD5G1g. 

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