What is Nutrition and What are Nutrients?

Nutrition is the process of consuming food and transforming it into energy and other essential nutrients needed for life. Nutrients are a source of energy for the human body and can be categorized as fiber, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, fats, water, and protein. Nutrition is about eating a healthy and balanced diet that provides the energy and nutrients necessary for good health. Understanding these nutritional terms can make it easier to make better food choices.

Nutrition is the study of nutrients in food, how the body uses them, and the relationship between diet, health, and disease. Nutrients are the substances found in food that promote biological activity and are essential for the human body. They are divided into proteins, fats, carbohydrates (sugars, dietary fiber), vitamins, and minerals, and perform the following vital functions. Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to sustain its life.

It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create chemical and energy structures. Lack of sufficient nutrients causes malnutrition. Nutritional science is the study of nutrition, although it usually focuses on human nutrition. Nutrition also focuses on how people can use dietary options to reduce the risk of disease, what happens if a person has too much or too little of a nutrient, and how allergies work.

Mineral cycles include the carbon cycle, the sulfur cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the water cycle, the phosphorus cycle, the oxygen cycle, among others, which are continuously recycled together with other mineral nutrients in productive ecological nutrition. Nutritionists use insights from molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics to understand how nutrients affect the human body. Nutrient deficiencies, known as malnutrition, occur when an organism doesn't have the necessary nutrients. Prokaryotes, including bacteria and archaea, vary greatly in the way they obtain nutrients in all nutritional groups.

Early human nutrition consisted of seeking nutrients similar to those of other animals but diverged at the beginning of the Holocene with the Neolithic Revolution when humans developed agriculture to produce food.