Using a Food Database This activity will help you meet these educational goals:
You will evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on scientific knowledge.
You will evaluate the reasoning behind accepted explanations or solutions to determine the merits of arguments.
Directions
Read the instructions for this self-checked activity. Type in your response to each question, and check your answers. At the end of the activity, write a brief evaluation of your work.
Activity
In this activity, you’ll use USDA Food Data Central to analyze the last three foods you ate and complete a table of the vitamins and minerals each food contains. Keep the following notes in mind as you search for each food:
You can search for any food in the database, including brand-name foods.
Non-water beverages can be included in your search.
If you can’t find the exact food, use the closest version you can find.
After making your selection, you’ll be taken to a page where you can adjust the serving size. Take your best estimate of the serving size you consumed. Then scroll down to find the total vitamins and minerals in each food.
Some foods won’t have a specific mineral or vitamin listed if it doesn’t exist naturally in that food. And in a few rare cases, the database entry may be incomplete. Compare your selected entry with similar entries of that food to determine whether the food has that nutrient. If you’re unsure, select a different food.
Part A
Now complete the table. Fill in the name of each food and the amount of each vitamin it contains. Be sure to include the proper units (example: 25 grams). Note that microgram = μg.
Part B
Use the dietary reference intake charts for vitamins and minerals to find the recommended intake for these micronutrients for people your age. If you ate these three foods every day for all three meals, would you meet your daily recommendations for vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B12, and iron?
Part C
Nutrition experts recommend that most people eat less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day for good heart health. What percentage of this limit did you consume by eating these three foods? Are you surprised by this total? Explain your response.
Part D
Most people don’t need to count every single micronutrient they eat. Instead, doctors recommend that they eat a well-balanced diet with a wide variety of healthy foods. Why is this recommendation important for maintaining homeostasis in the body? Use the data collected from your three foods to support your explanation.