Nutrition is called the process in which living beings ingest food and liquids to maintain their vital functions. It must be distinguished from the simple concept of feeding , as it encompasses involuntary processes such as digestion, integration of nutrients into the blood after its processing and finally its incorporation into cells. Thus, nutrition can be considered a discipline in its own right within the health field.
There are different types of nutrition in living things. On the one hand, organisms that produce their own food, such as plants and some bacteria; in this case, they produce their own cells from various chemical substances. On the other hand, organisms that need others to be able to nourish themselves, such as animals, which obtain energy from the assimilation of organic matter from other living beings.
One of the main goals of nutrition is to explain the action of a diet on the body in order to improve people’s health. In fact, for nutrition to respond to the body’s needs, it must cover energy requirements, both from the standpoint of basal metabolism and physical activity. It must also provide water supply and lack of energy nutrients such as vitamins and minerals.
The nutrients the body needs are carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, proteins, fats and water. Any imbalance in these nutrients can have health consequences. Thus, there are many diseases that are linked to the patient’s nutritional circumstances: obesity, hypertension, malnutrition, etc. Good nutrition is generally very effective in preventing a large number of health problems and disorders.
There is a graphical representation that classifies foods according to their importance to human nutrition: the food pyramid. Knowing it can contribute to an integral vision of how a person should eat to have a balanced diet. This diet has a base composed of cereals or grains, a medium level of vegetables and fruits, and an apex of oils, sugars and fats. Its base corresponds to foods that should be assiduously consumed, the vertex corresponds to those that consume the least and the intermediate sector to foods that should be consumed in moderation. It is undoubtedly a great help to understand how our nutrition should be viewed.
