Diet and Nutrition
for Health and
Sport
EDGU1003
Lecturer: Thea Werkhoven

Today’s Lecture Topics
•
Common nutrition myths that are perpetuated by old wives’ tales and by
the media.
•
Are they true or are they false?
•
Why?
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Exam nutrition, what is important to have and to avoid.
•
Nutrition for studying.
•
Caffeine
•
How much caffeine is ok and what foods is it found in?

Today’s lecture outcomes
Myths/Truths
•
Debunk some myths.
•
Understand what nutrients are important in brain function
and cognition.
•
Apply this to periods of study and when focus is required.
Caffeine and study nutrition
•
Be familiar with dietary sources of caffeine and the effect
that ingesting it can have.
•
What is a safe limit for caffeine each day?
•
What happens if this safe limit is exceeded?

Nutrition myths &
Everyday nutrition
NUTRITION
MYTHS

Which myths persist?
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Fat makes you fat
•
Meat rots in your guts
•
The Aussie BBQ will give you cancer
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Protein is as unhealthy as smoking
•
Milk gives you mucous
•
Eating carbs after 6pm makes you fat
•
Oil is carcinogenic
•
Sugar is addictive as cocaine

“A common misconception that is
uncritically passed on as established
truth by experts and non-experts alike.”
A food myth often contains some element of truth!

Where do myths come from?
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Everyone has an opinion on what we should eat
•
Early reporting of research before it’s peer- reviewed or been repeated (often later
contradicted or overturned)
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Vested interests pushing the virtues of their own product
•
Selective reporting by the media and/or researchers
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The experts disagree – and it’s reported in the media!

Type of nutrition myths
1.
Food has a negative effect on health/weight/heart disease
2.
Food should be restricted by specific groups
3.
Food loses its nutritional value due to processing
4.
Certain foods are associated with a given time

Myths can do harm
“Food and nutrition misinformation can have harmful effects on the
health, well-being and economic status of consumers.”
ADA Position, April 2006
•
Many myths reflect the unease consumer feel about the modern food
supply.
•
Breeds specific dietary habits, spending and ‘chinese whispers’
•
Can tarnish reputations of companies and products
•
Also can work in the opposite way, make a boom in fad products.

“You shouldn’t eat carbs after 6pm”

No carbohydrates after 6pm
•
If you eat carbs at night, your body wont be able to “burn them off”.
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Started by body builders in the gym wanting to “shred” before a comp.
•
It’s a way of cutting kilojoules without too much suffering.

No carbohydrates after 6pm
•
Carbs cannot tell the time!
