Nutrition is the science that deals with food and how the body uses it. All living things need food to live. The food supplies energy, which people need to perform certain actions. Food also provides substances that the body needs to build and repair its tissues and to regulate its organs and organ systems. Food provides certain chemical substances needed in order for a person to maintain good health. These chemical substances are called nutrients. Nutrients can perform three important functions. They provide materials for building, repairing, or maintaining body tissues. They help regulate body processes. They serve as fuel to provide energy. The body needs energy to maintain all its functions. People who do not get enough nutrients are sometimes lazy and are unwilling to work. The foods we eat contain thousands of different chemicals. Our body, however, only needs only a few dozen of these chemicals in order to stay healthy. These are the nutrients that the body needs. Nutrients are divided into six main groups. They are (1)water, (2)carbohydrates, (3)fats, (4)proteins, (5)minerals, (6)vitamins. Water, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are called macronutrients. Since macro means large, the body needs these four nutrients in large amounts. Minerals and vitamins are called micronutrients (because micro means small). The body needs only small amounts of these nutrients. Water is the most important nutrient. Our bodies can survive without other nutrients for several weeks, but we can only go without water for about one week. Water is needed in great amounts because the body consists largely of water. Between 50 and 75 percent of a normal person's body weight is made up of water. The body needs water to carry out all of its life processes. Watery solutions help dissolve other nutrients and carry them to all of the tissues. The body also needs water to carry away waste products and to cool itself. Adults should drink about 2 1/2 quarts of water every day. The carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are needed because they have nutrients which provide energy. Carbohydrates include all sugars and starches. They are the main source of energy for living things. There are two types of carbohydrates, simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates include sugars and have a simple molecular structure. Complex carbohydrates include starches and have a larger and more complicated molecular structure. The structure consists of many simple carbohydrates linked together. Fats are a highly concentrated source of energy. All fats are composed of an alcohol called glycerol and substances called fatty acids. A fatty acid consists of a long chain of carbon atoms. There are three types of fatty acids.
Fatty acids such as linoleic acid, linolenic acid and arachidonic acid are known as essential fatty acid because they cannot be synthesized in the body so must be supplied in the food. Human being lacks the ability to introduce double bonds in fatty acids beyond carbons 9 & 10. About 20 different fatty acids are synthesized from the two essential fatty acids linoleic acid and linolenic acid. Omega three fatty acid is synthesized from linolenic acid and omega six fatty acid is synthesized from linolic acid.
Good fats come from vegetables, nuts, seeds and fish. The two broad categories of beneficial fats include monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. The good healthy fats are liquid at room temperature, and do not solidify. They are different from saturated fats as that have fewer hydrogen atoms bonded to their carbon chains.
Carbohydrates. This is the main source of energy for the body. Our bodies use carbs in the form of glucose for our brain to gain energy to function correctly. The carbohydrates that the brain does not use, is stored as reserve energy. Carbohydrates are very important as not only do they give energy to the brain, but carbs are also a source of calories to help maintain body weight.
Fats are separated in to two groups, saturated and unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats have doubled bonds, meaning that where a hydrogen atom would be the there is none so the carbon atoms bond together instead “the carbon atoms are busy double-bonding with each other, then they aren't forming bonds to hydrogen atoms” "The Kinds of Fat and Why It Matter to You." Indiana University. Web. Saturated fats are saturated with Hydrogen Atoms.
Food contains variety of nutrients, which is essential to our bodies. Nutrition is necessary to support the activities of day-to-day living. Nutrients in the food help maintaining normal growth and development, tissue maintenance and repair, cellular metabolism, and organ function (Potter, 2012, p.996). There are two groups of nutrients: macronutrients such as proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. However, nutrition should include water too because water helps protecting and repairing cells from environmental damage. Each nutrient has its own functions to restore our body. Proteins rebuild damaged tissue and promote growth. Carbohydrates and fats provide energy to the body, while vitamins and minerals function throughout the body in support of body’s processes. Water is essential for cellular homeostasis and life: it removes waste products including toxins out of vital organs. It moves nutrients to the cells, regulates body temperature, and providing a moist for brain, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, spinal cord, and
Carbohydrates and lipids/fats are a very important part of our lives. They have many similarities
The nutritional value of a food product is defined by the amount of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, fibre, minerals and vitamins that it contains per serving. It is important to consume a moderated amount of these components in order to stay healthy and prevent diseases that may result from deficiency of these components or from excess of these components in the body. Generally, it is important to limit the consumption of carbohydrates and fats while consuming sufficient amounts of proteins, vitamins and minerals.
The macronutrients a person consumes are what the body needs to function properly. They are the nutrients from protein, fats and carbohydrates that make up a person's daily nutrition. The amount of macronutrients and ratio of one to the other is what people alter to achieve a certain result. For example, lowering carbs and fats while amping up on protein is what body builders do to gain more muscle. Runners will lower protein while increasing carbs to give themselves a rush for a big races.
Water is a deciding factor between life and death throughout a survival situation. One of the biggest killers in the wild is lack of water, or dehydration. Dehydration is detected by thirst, little to no sweat, no urination, and exhaustion. Devoid of water, a person dies from dehydration in within three to five days, but in an unforgiving survival situation the time before death is reduced due burdens on the body. Water is challenging to acquire; however, it is straightforward to do with basic knowledge of how water flows, geological features, and how some plants retain water (Muma 3). All plants require water, and the majority store water inside themselves; this element alone could give people a sufficient amount of water to survive. If chewed on, almost any green plant or leaf will produce water (Muma 9). Erik Falk said, “Water is very rarely drinkable in the wild, so some kind of purification is neces...
Nutrition is important to understand because it is a significant contributor to the health and wellness of a human being. Nutrition can determine the weight of a person, the performance of organs and the body’s ability to prevent or accelerate certain diseases. Health and nutrition can be influenced by several factors such as family, friends, peers as well as physical and mental stress. As a young child, the immediate family is the biggest influence on nutrition because they are the first role models and establish the initial habits that the individual will develop. Through daily meal plans given to children, they can develop a standard of care in regard to nutrition and then incorporate key food groups into their daily diet. A child’s exposure to cooking habits and nutrition values could significantly contribute to the overall health and well being of the child in their later years. Therefore a person’s eating habits can effect their weight and well being. A persons view on nutrition changes over time through knowledge gained about food and its nutrition. A person also can become cognitive in how their diet influences their body, by altering weight or causing internal problems. Through time one can use food as a therapy because it makes them feel better, it relieves stress and it occupies their time. Balancing three specific nutrients, protein, fats, and fiber, which are major parts of a nutritional diet and can play a major role in a persons overall success in their health.
Water comes from a variety of sources. All beverages, juices and fluids we consume are sources of water for our body. Even solid food contains water. Vegetables such as cucumber, lettuce and celery may have up to 90% water. Protein rich food such as meat and fish could contain two-thirds to one half of their weight of water. Even carbohydrates like grains, although do not appear to be watery could contain water as much as one third of their weight. Fats such as butter or margarine contain very little water. Some water may come from within our body because of energy metabolism but the amount is insignificant.
“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise not too little not too much, we would have food the safest way of health” (Barasi.E.M, 2003). This essay is going to discuss on the important of six essential nutrients in human body. According to PosnerB.M (1998), he define essential nutrients as a nutrients that the body cannot synthesize on its own-or not to an adequate amount and must be provided by the died. Oxford dictionary (2009), also define essential nutrients as are those nutrients that are required by the body and cannot be synthesise in the adequate amount to meet requirement, so must be provided by the diet. Essential nutrients are those found to be essential to human life and optimal function, Williams.M. H (2006).There are six main type of nutrients used to maintain body health. They are carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals and water. They must be in balance for the body to function properly.
Fatty acids are another type of lipid. The common feature of fatty acids is that they are all esters of moderate to long chain fatty acids. Two polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic and linoleic, are designated "essential" because their absence in the human diet has been associated with health problems, such as scaly skin, stunted growth and increased dehydration. These acids are also precursors to the prostaglandins, a family of physiologically potent lipids present in minute amounts in most body tissues.
All of these substances serve one purpose or another when consumed into the body. Carbohydrates, for example, are broken down in the body to provide energy for the body to perform reactions and to regain stamina. Protein helps muscles to recover stronger than before as well as help skin and hair cells to develop. Some substances, such as fat and sugar, can be misinterpreted as being harmful to the body. However, fats and sugars are vital to the human body and without them certain processes within the body could not take place ("What's In Food", Nutriti...
By the time a person feels thirsty, his or her body has lost over 1 percent of its total water amount.