Nutrition programs Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Nutrition programs - Assignment Example ion (2010), "The costs associated with feeding people in poverty, combined with the costs of treating diet-related diseases, speak strongly of the need for nutrition education" (p. 3). The fact that many individuals in the U.S. today are inundated with unhealthy foods also necessitates the need for nutrition education. In other words, nutrition education presents people with the information they need to help them make informed choices in regards to eating habits. It is not uncommon to find malnourished individuals in the U.S today particularly those from low income backgrounds. As noted by University of Wisconsin (2010), the incidences of malnutrition are as a result of a lesser amount of knowledge on nutrition recommendations and inaccessibility to information among low income families. In this perspective, the nutrition component is imperative in a public nutrition program. Secondly, a public nutrition program must include an evaluation of factors that affect eating practices (Jones, Nobles, and Larke, 2006). Eating practices, according to the World Health Organization (2015) are determined by various factors including level of income, genetics, education level, and social interactions. Understanding these factors is of significance as they form the basis for the formulation of action plans to address the poor eating habits. For instance, evaluating individual level of income can help policy implementers devise relevant or appropriate strategies to improve peoples income level and as a result improve their eating practices correspondingly. Increased level of income, in other words, improves peoples accessibility to healthy foods. To further explicate the importance of assessing the factors that affect eating practices, the World Health Organization (2015) asserts that holding individuals responsible for poor health is inapt as health status is shaped b y other factors. Assessing these other factors is therefore a fundamental factor in achieving program success