NS105 Unit 10 Nutrition Case Summary Example

One Clerk, Four Methods, One Account: A Unit 10 Nutrition Case Summary of an Overnight Hotel Worker

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

NS105: Fundamentals of Nutrition

Unit 10 Nutrition Case Summary

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The clerk and every figure are composite, drawn from the earlier units; the reference intakes, guidelines, nutrient density and shift work sources cited are real.

The Person

Gloria, a composite 36-year-old, covers the hotel's night desk on a five-night rotation and sleeps through the late morning and early afternoon. She is on her feet for parts of each shift but otherwise sedentary. She has no diagnosed health conditions and takes no medications. She describes her eating as "whatever is around when I'm hungry."

The Evidence Base

This summary draws on four pieces of earlier work: a three-day food record, the energy and macronutrient calculations from that record, a nutrient density comparison of snacks and a week-long comparison with the national dietary guidelines. Where figures appear in more than one piece, they have been checked against each other and reconciled to the week-long averages.

Energy and Macronutrients

Gloria's average intake was about 2,100 kilocalories a day. Applying the general energy factors to her averages gives about 1,040 kilocalories from carbohydrate, 330 from protein and 740 from fat, with the remainder rounding error. As shares: carbohydrate about 49 percent, protein about 16 percent and fat about 35 percent. Carbohydrate and protein fall within the adult ranges; fat sits at the upper edge of its 20 to 35 percent range (Institute of Medicine, 2005). Her protein, about 82 grams, is comfortably above the allowance for her weight.

Her intake is slightly above the 1,800 to 2,000 kilocalories the guidelines estimate for a woman of her age and activity. The difference is small and could reflect estimation error, but it is consistent with her report of slow weight gain over two years.

Food Groups and Limits

Compared with the 2,000-kilocalorie Healthy U.S.-Style Dietary Pattern, Gloria eats about half a cup of fruit and 1.2 cups of vegetables a day against recommended amounts of 2 and 2.5 cups. Her grains are slightly above the pattern but almost entirely refined, and her dairy is half the recommended amount. Her protein foods match the pattern in amount but include no seafood. She exceeds the limits for added sugars, about 13 percent of energy against less than 10, for saturated fat and for sodium, about 3,600 milligrams against less than 2,300 (U.S. Department of Agriculture & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2020).

Nutrients of Concern

The food group gaps explain the nutrients that fall short. Her fiber, about 14 grams a day, is little more than half of the 25 grams recommended for women. Potassium and calcium are below their reference values. These shortfalls come mainly from the missing fruit, vegetables, whole grains and dairy, not from eating too little overall.

Snack Quality

Much of Gloria's overnight eating comes from vending machine crackers, cola and cookies from the hotel's breakfast setup. Per 100 kilocalories, foods like these supply little protein, fiber, calcium or potassium. The snack comparison showed that options such as plain yogurt, carrots with hummus or almonds deliver several times more of those nutrients for the same energy. Nutrient density has limits as a measure, since it ignores portion and depends on which nutrients are counted (Drewnowski, 2005), but the direction of the difference is clear.

Read together, the four pieces of evidence point to one pattern rather than four problems: Gloria eats enough, even slightly more than she needs, but the foods available at the hours she works are low in fiber, potassium and calcium and high in added sugars and sodium.

The Role of Timing

Gloria's schedule shapes what she eats more than her preferences do. Most of the week's cooked vegetables appear on the days she spends at her sister's table. On work nights, food choices are limited to what she brings, what the vending machine holds and what the hotel sets out. A review of shift workers found their total daily energy intake similar to that of day workers (Bonham et al., 2016), which matches Gloria's case: the concern is not quantity but the quality of what is available overnight.

How the Pieces Were Reconciled

The earlier units used slightly different figures because they covered different spans: three days for the record and calculations, a full week for the guidance analysis. This summary uses the week-long averages throughout, since a longer record better represents usual intake. Where the three-day figures differed, as with energy, which averaged 2,120 kilocalories over three days and about 2,100 over seven, the week's figure is used. The snack comparison used generic products, so its findings are applied to Gloria's snacks by direction rather than by exact values. Reconciling the figures this way means each number in the summary appears once, in one form.

What Gloria Said

When the findings were shared with her, Gloria said the overnight snacks were the part she had never thought about, because "nobody counts what you eat at three in the morning." She was most interested in the drink change, since she already keeps water at the desk. She was skeptical about packing food, saying she often forgets, and suggested keeping fruit and yogurt in the staff refrigerator at the start of each week instead. Her suggestion is a better version of the recommendation than the one first drafted.

Recommendations Within Scope

Three changes address the main findings without asking Gloria to change her job or schedule.

1. Pack the overnight snack. Yogurt, fruit or carrots with hummus brought from home would replace crackers and cookies, adding fiber, calcium and potassium.

2. Change one drink. Replacing the 4:30 a.m. cola with water or milk would remove about 65 grams of added sugar on work nights and, with milk, add dairy.

3. Make the first meal whole grain. Oatmeal or whole-wheat toast at her 3 p.m. "breakfast" would raise whole grains and fiber.

Limits of the Evidence

The intake data are self-reported, and several restaurant and family meals were estimated. Seven days may not represent her usual intake. No laboratory or body measurements were available, so the summary describes intake, not nutritional status. Gloria's weight gain and any health concerns belong with her physician.

Conclusion

Gloria's diet supplies enough energy and protein but falls short on fruit, vegetables, whole grains and dairy, and exceeds limits on added sugars and sodium. The pattern traces to the foods available during her overnight shift. Small changes to what she packs and drinks would address most of the gaps.

References

Bonham, M. P., Bonnell, E. K., & Huggins, C. E. (2016). Energy intake of shift workers compared to fixed day workers: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Chronobiology International, 33(8), 1086-1100. https://doi.org/10.1080/07420528.2016.1192188

Drewnowski, A. (2005). Concept of a nutritious food: Toward a nutrient density score. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 82(4), 721-732. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/82.4.721

Institute of Medicine. (2005). Dietary reference intakes for energy, carbohydrate, fiber, fat, fatty acids, cholesterol, protein, and amino acids. National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/10490

U.S. Department of Agriculture & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2020). Dietary guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 (9th ed.). https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov