Nutrition

Nutrition is the study of the relationship between food and drink in their relationship to health or disease, especially in determining an optimal diet for purposes of health, weight loss, body building, or other purposes. It is practiced by nutritionists. We have come a long way in our understanding about nutrition. For example; as recently as the 1960s many doctors routinely told their patients that nutrition had nothing to do with their health. We now know otherwise; you are what you eat!

Nutrition and Health

There exists a large category of disease which are thought to be caused, at least in part, by malnutrition, or the lack of proper nutrition (seeDr. Joel Fuhrman). These include :

• heart disease
• somecancers
• diabetes
• beriberi
• rickets
• scurvy
• vitamin deficiency disease
• kwashiorkor
• pellagra
• poor immune function, potentially leading to a wide range of other illnesses.

Additionally, several diseases directly or indirectly are impacted by diet, and require very close attention to the nutrient content of food. These include:

• metabolic or nutritionally related disease such as diabetes or endemic goitre.
• various eating disorders such as binge eating, anorexia nervosa, or bulimia

Advised dietary guidelines, and concepts in nutrition

Current dietary guidelines in the United States are presented in the concept of a food pyramid. Detailed information on general nutrition is available at the Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Information Center, at http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/.

Some concepts in nutrition include these need to be filled out

• calorie
• vitamins and minerals
• proteins
  • essential amino acids
  • limiting amino acid and net protein utilization
• fats
  • saturated fat
• carbohydrates
  • sugars
  • starches
• dietary fiber
• cholesterol
  • "good" cholesterol (HDL cholesterol)
  • "bad" cholesterol (LDL cholesterol)
• elimination diets

Current issues and controversies

Controversies in modern nutrition include:

• The current disparity in food availability between first and third world populations, see famine and poverty
• How large a place dairy products should take in the food pyramid
• How much meat and animal products is appropriate in diet, see also vegetarian and vegan
• How essential to proper digestion are the enzymes contained in food itself, which are usually destroyed in cooking (see Living foods diet)
• Should genetic engineering be used the production of food crops and animals
• Are the use of pesticides, and fertilizers damaging to the foods produced by use of these methods, see also organic farming
• nutritional supplements in the form of pills, powders, liquids
• herbal supplements in the form of pills, powders, liquids
• use of antibiotics and hormones in animal farming

Further reading

[Advice and news on nutrition]