Nutrition and Health

The foods you eat are actually fuel and building materials for your body. As a result, your health depends on the kinds of food you eat. These foods go to the nerve cells, bone cells, muscle cells, and all the other cells of the body. These types of cells, however, need different kinds of foods. You must, therefore, eat foods that give the most benefit to all the cells of your body.

The study of nutrition reveals how the body uses food in growth, development, and repair. An understanding of nutrition also shows how foods with low nutritional value can be harmful to human health. In the last 50 years, nutritionists, or scientists who study nutrition, have mode many advances. For example, they have discovered the sources and functions of many substances.

In addition to eating nutritious foods in proper amounts, good health involves the ability to resist sickness, cope with stresses, and exercise without tiring easily. Maintaining the proper weight and getting adequate rest and sleep are also necessary for good health.

Proteins

Every living plant or animal cell contains proteins. Proteins help build and repair tissues. They also aid in the making of enzymes, some hormones, and antibodies. If other nutrients are not available, proteins can be used to provide energy.

Proteins are large molecules that contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and several other elements. Each protein molecules is made up of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The kind and number of amino acids very from one protein to another. About eight amino acids must be in the diet of almost all animals. These are called essential amino acids. Those amino acids that can be synthesized in the body without being present in food are called nonessential amino acids.

Some foods supply not only the essential amino acids, but also other substances that can be used to make the nonessential amino acids. These foods, such as soybeans, milk, eggs, fish, and lean meat, are called complete protein foods. Foods that supply only some of the amino acids needed in a balanced diet are called incomplete protein foods. Rice, potatoes, and corn are examples of in complete protein foods.

Vitamins

Each of the four basic food groups contains organic substances called vitamins. The body cannot make vitamins, and no single food contains all the vitamins that the body needs. As a result, the body must get its vitamins from a variety of foods.

Needed only in very small amount, vitamins perform many complex functions. They help to regulate the body processes, promote growth, and aid in the general upkeep of the body. When the body does not have enough of a certain vitamin, the condition is called a vitamin-deficiency disease.

Vitamins are divided into two major groups. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are called the fat-soluble vitamins. These vitamins can be stored in the fatty tissues of the body. Vitamins that dissolve in water, called water-soluble, are not stored in the body. As a result, the body uses only as much of them as it needs, and it excess in the urine. The water-soluble group includes vitamin C and the B-complex vitamins, such as riboflavin.

Minerals

The body needs about 14 minerals, or in organic substances. These substances usually take the form of elements or salts. As in the case of vitamins, no single food provides all the needed minerals.

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