Nutrition is the process of assimilating food materials by living organisms to enable them to grow, maintain and reproduce. It is the supply of essential materials to cells and organisms that are necessary for sustaining life. Eating a healthy diet can help prevent or alleviate many common health issues. An organism's diet is determined by the palatability of food. Dietitians are health professionals who specialize in human nutrition, meal planning, economics, and preparation.
They are trained to provide evidence-based dietary advice and management to individuals and institutions. Clinical nutritionists focus on the role of nutrition in chronic diseases, such as prevention or remediation through addressing nutritional deficiencies before resorting to medications. The field is supported by many high-level academic programs, up to and including the doctoral level, and has its own voluntary certification board, professional associations, and peer-reviewed journals. The American Nutrition Society, the Nutrition Society of India, the Association of Scientists and Nutritionists of India, the Dietetic Association of India, and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition are some of the organizations that promote nutrition research. Nutrition is a biochemical and physiological process that enables organisms to use food for sustaining life.
It provides organisms with nutrients that can be metabolized to create energy structures. Lack of sufficient nutrients leads to malnutrition.Nutritional science is the study of nutrition, usually emphasizing human nutrition. It involves studying nutrients in food, how the body uses them, and the relationship between diet, health, and disease. Herbs and spices are added to food for flavor but don't significantly affect 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. Excessive perspiration can occur when plants cannot recover easily. True nutrition experts prefer to talk about dietary patterns or food groups since nutrients in food work together to improve certain conditions. The first vitamin to be identified was thiamine in 1926 which led to further research into vitamins and their role in nutrition. Dutrochet's work in the mid-19th century combined with Liebig's application of chemistry to agriculture and physiology shifted focus away from the atmosphere and soil in plant nutrition. Chemists in the 18th and 19th centuries experimented with different elements and food sources to develop theories about nutrition.
Prokaryotes such as bacteria and archaea obtain nutrients in various ways across all nutritional groups. For a full discussion on human nutritional requirements, see Human Nutrition.
