Diet  Analysis  Project     Step 1. Screen Diet

Complete a 24-hour recall and Food Group Count List every food and beverage that you’ve eaten over the past 24 hours. Count the number of servings of each food group provided by the foods that you listed. (A sample recall form can be found in the textbook Appendix E; page A-44, or at McGraw Hill Connect Student Resources page. The form there is titled, ‘Daily Food Log Form’. You will not submit this form. If you need help estimating the number of servings provided by what you listed refer to the ‘What Counts as an ounce, cup, etc.’ link at: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/fruits-counts.html

Step 2. Introduce Problem

Discuss the potential of a specific nutrient imbalance and how it relates to a health outcome. a. In one paragraph, discuss the results of the 24-hour recall (food group intake) and identify the most problematic food group (compared to My plate recommendations). If you need help determining if a group was over or under consumed, refer to the ‘How Much is Needed?’ link at: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/fruits-amount.html b. In one paragraph, discuss the feature nutrients of that problematic food group that may be imbalanced. If you need help determining what nutrients are featured in a group, refer to the ‘Health Benefits and Nutrients’ link at: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/fruits-why.html c. In one to two paragraphs, discuss the relationship or effect of a specific nutrient (or group of nutrients) to some health outcome that you are interested in. Cite at least two scholarly articles (at least one review article and one original research article) that support your understanding (DO NOT USE the Health Benefits and Nutrients’ link at MyPlate.gov, nor trade, industry or popular type publications such as livestrong.org). d. In one sentence, state the purpose of a prospective analysis.

Step 3. Diet Analysis a. Complete a prospective diet record

Without changing your usual diet, keep a detailed food log of food and beverage intake for one to seven days. (A sample daily food log form can be found in the textbook Appendix E; page A-38, at McGraw Hill Connect Student Resources page, or posted in Bb beneath the project instructions. You will not submit the form. b. Analyze Diet Record using Diet Analysis Software Transfer every food item from your food log into Nutrition Calc Plus. Demonstration to this is included in Diet Analysis Lecture Archive. c. View Results/Reports. Be sure the reports that you select provide the information needed to address the purposes of the analysis.

Step 4. Performance a. Discuss in a sentence or two, intake of the nutrient/nutrient group

discussed in Step 2 compared to DRI, or dietary goals as listed in Nutricalc.

b. Create one table or figure that shows the level of that nutrient/nutrient group consumed compared to dietary goals as listed in Nutricalc.

c. Discuss in one to two paragraphs specific foods that influenced the levels of the nutrient/nutrient group, and discuss at least three dietary strategies to maintain or improve intake of nutrient/nutrient group.

Evolutionary Change and Natural Selection – Introduction

Evolution is descent with modification and includes small-scale evolutionary change (microevolution) as measured by changes in gene frequency in a population from one generation to the next and large-scale evolutionary (macroevolution) change as evidenced by speciation events. Several mechanisms contribute to evolutionary change, such as natural selection, a process in which individuals with certain beneficial traits are more likely to survive and reproduce. Natural selection is also responsible for the loss of lethal or detrimental traits from a population. It is important to keep in mind that evolution does not act on individuals; it acts on populations. Natural selection, however, does act on individuals within a population and can result in evolutionary change of that population over time.

Populations do not always change due to Natural Selection, since there are several conditions that must be met in order for Natural selection to occur:

• Individuals within a population must vary; they do all exhibit identical traits.
• Some traits are “better” than others or “worse” than others.
• The traits that vary are heritable and not simply acquired.
• The “better” individuals have more success reproducing and produce more offspring.

IF these conditions are met, then in successive generations, more offspring will exhibit the beneficial trait (or conversely, a detrimental trait will be lost).

Recall that DNA contains sequences that code for particular proteins or traits, these sequences are called genes. The alternate forms of genes are called alleles and these alleles exist in pairs because chromosomes exist in pairs. A dominant allele is one that masks another (recessive) allele; dominant does NOT mean a given allele is more frequent or necessarily better. A recessive allele is one that requires two copies to be expressed. Evolutionary biologists are interested in the frequency of alleles within a population and how they change over time (= microevolution).

Be sure that you read through our Unit 7 online lecture this unit on Evolution as well as your text book readings. Open the Unit 7 Experiment Answer Sheet and work through the first two exercises.

Mechanisms of Evolutionary Change – Introduction

There are other mechanisms besides Natural Selection that can lead to evolutionary change. These include:

• Genetic drift (random changes in the gene pool)
• Mutations
• Gene flow (e.g., immigration and emigration)
• Nonrandom mating (e.g., inbreeding, sexual selection, assortative mating)

Be sure to review our online lecture on Evolution and pp 260-264 in your book before starting this exercise. You will be using the following website for this exercise. Be sure you are able to open it and use it:

BioMan Biology. No date. Biology Games and Virtual Labs: Evolution
http://biomanbio.com/GamesandLabs/EvoClassGames/aaevo.html  (Links to an external site.)

When you are ready, open your Unit 7 Experiment Answer Sheet and complete Exercise 3: Mechanisms of Evolutionary Change.