Nutrition is the physiological process of acquiring energy from food sources for growth and metabolic activities. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient nutrients causes malnutrition. Nutrition science is the study of nutrition, although it usually emphasizes human nutrition.
It is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to maintain its life. Nutrients can be classified in various ways, such as macronutrients or micronutrients, organic or inorganic, and whether or not they provide energy to the body (produce energy). Micronutrients are nutrients that the body needs in smaller amounts, but they are still essential for carrying out body functions. These include all essential minerals and vitamins.
Nutrition is the assimilation by living organisms of food materials that allow them to grow, maintain and reproduce. Primitive human nutrition consisted of searching for nutrients similar to those of other animals, but it diverged at the beginning of the Holocene with the Neolithic revolution, in which humans developed agriculture to produce food. Most cultures add herbs and spices to foods before eating them to add flavor, although most do not significantly affect nutrition. Nutritionists use ideas from molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics to understand how nutrients affect the human body. Plants, algae and bacteria (cyanobacteria) are some examples in which autotrophic nutrition is observed.
Heterotrophic nutrition is divided into saprophytic nutrition, parasitic nutrition and holozoic nutrition. In domestic animals, such as pets, livestock and working animals, as well as other animals in captivity, humans manage nutrition through animal feed. Nutrition is essential for all living beings to survive. The body begins to absorb these nutrients as digestion begins. It is the study of nutrients in foods, how the body uses them, and the relationship between diet, health and disease.
The first vitamin to be chemically identified was thiamine in 1926, and the role of vitamins in nutrition was studied in the following decades. For a full discussion of the nutritional requirements of humans in particular, see the article human nutrition. As you know, to maintain life you need to continue to feed your body. For more information on what nutrition is and the different types of nutrition, keep visiting the BYJU'S website or download the BYJU'S app for more information.
