Nutrition is a key aspect of a healthy lifestyle and development that cannot be overlooked. Better nutrition is associated with better child and maternal health, stronger immune systems, safer pregnancy and delivery, a decreased risk of noncommunicable illnesses (such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease), and longer life. Malnutrition, in all of its forms, poses serious risks to human health. Today, the globe is dealing with a twin burden of malnutrition, which comprises both undernutrition and obesity, particularly in low- and middle-income nations.
Nutrients are substances that the body needs to accomplish its fundamental activities. The majority of nutrients must be received from the food because the human body does not synthesize or create them. Nutrients provide people with energy, contribute to body structure, and/or control chemical processes. These fundamental functions allow individuals to perceive and respond to their surroundings, move, expel waste, breathe, develop, and reproduce (Chen et al., 2018). There are six types of nutrients that the body needs in order to operate and sustain general health. Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, water, vitamins, and minerals are all groups of nutrients. Non-nutrients can be found in a range of foods together with nutrients and also affect the efficiency of diets (Thompson & Friendship, 2019). Some non-nutrients, such as antioxidants, which are usually found in edible plants, are helpful to the body, while others, such as toxins or additives like some colors and preservatives found in processed foods, can be detrimental.
The digestive process is utilized by the human body to break down food into a form that can be absorbed and used as fuel. It performs three primary functions: combining food, pushing food through the digestive tract (peristalsis), and breaking down food into smaller molecules utilizing chemicals. The related organs include the mouth, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, liver, gallbladder, small intestine, large intestine, and anus. This portion of the process is known as “motility” because it includes moving or emptying food particles from one area to the next. The activity of a vast network of hormones, neurons, enzymes, and muscles is critical to this process. Problems with any of these components can result in a wide range of diseases.
Understanding digestion requires understanding how these organs work together to digest food. Digestion is a complex process that focuses on the conversion of food one consumes into nutrients that a body can utilize for energy, development, and cell repair. The digesting process also generates trash that must be removed. The mouth is the starting point for the digestive system, and digestion begins here before you even take the first bite of food. The scent of food causes the salivary glands to release saliva, causing the mouth to be wet. The saliva production rises as a person eats their food, thus enticing the gastrointestinal tract into action. In the mouth, the digestive process begins. Even before dining begins, the prospect of eating increases saliva glands in the mouth.
A well-balanced approach to dieting accounts for a person’s needs and bodily characteristics. People require a certain amount of calories and nutrients to maintain their health and cannot adequately sustain themselves otherwise. It delivers all of the nutrients a person needs without exceeding the daily calorie limit. People can receive the nutrients and calories they need by eating a balanced diet and avoiding junk food or food with little nutritious value. Furthermore, it is often not enough to simply consume the required food groups as a whole: to pursue a healthy diet; people must consider the internal distinctions within the established groups of nutrients. These distinctions are the most evident with, arguably, the most controversial food group: controversial. Starchy carbohydrates should make up less than one-third of a person’s total food consumption. Among them are potatoes, pasta, bread, white rice, and cereals. Options with more fiber or whole grains, such as wholewheat pasta, brown rice, or skin-on potatoes, are generally considered to be healthier. They include more fiber than white or refined starchy carbohydrates and may help you feel satiated for longer.
As nutrition is an elaborate discipline that evidently changes depending on the individual requirements and circumstances of each person, one must also consider diseases and chronic conditions associated with incorrect diets. The relationship between food and health is highly complex, and many issues concerning how nutrition affects human health remain unanswered. Given the complex nature of chronic illnesses and the wide variety of diets, proving a causal function of a single dietary ingredient in disease development is extremely challenging (Cena & Calder, 2020). Dietary illnesses include nutritional deficiencies or excesses, obesity, and eating disorders, as well as chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancer, and type 2 diabetes. Hereditary metabolic illnesses that respond to dietary therapy, the interaction of foods and nutrients with medications, food allergies and intolerances, and congenital malformations that can be avoided by diet are all examples of nutritional diseases.
In conclusion, the nutritional value of foods an individual consumes has to be considered on a regular basis for them to remain healthy and for the maintenance of general well-being. In many cases, this is a rather complex task due to financial or organizational limitations, as well as taste-related preferences. It is generally harmful health-wise to disregard how healthy one’s diet is, but the opposite extreme might be almost as unhealthy. Thus, dietary restrictions might be a useful tool in better understanding one’s food intake but should be used in moderation and with due attention to a person’s mental health.
References
Cena, H., & Calder, P. C. (2020). Defining a healthy diet: Evidence for the role of contemporary dietary patterns in health and disease.Nutrients, 12(2), 334., Web.
Chen, Y., Michalak, M., & Agellon, L. B. (2018). Focus: Nutrition and food science: Importance of nutrients and nutrient metabolism on human health. The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 91(2), 95. Focus: Nutrition and Food Science: Importance of Nutrients and Nutrient Metabolism on Human Health (nih.gov).
Thomson, J. R., & Friendship, R. M. (2019). Digestive system.Diseases of Swine, 234-263. Web.