Relationship between Food, Nutrition & Health

Definitions

• Food – is one that nourishes the body.

• Food may also be defined as any substance eaten or drunk which meets the needs
for energy, body building, regulation and protection of the body.
• Food is the material from which our bodies are made.
• Eating right kind of food in right amounts ensures good nutrition and health.
• Nutrition - is food at work in the body. It includes everything that happens from eating food to its
usage in various functions of body.

Nutrients are components of foods needed for body in adequate amounts for proper growth,
reproduction and leading normal life.

The science of nutrition deals with what nutrients we need, in what quantity, how to get them and how
the body utilizes them.
• Adequate, optimum and good nutrition – indicates the right amount and
proportion of nutrients for proper utilization for achieving highest level of
physical and mental health.

• Nutritional status – state of the body as a result of foods consumed and their
utilization by the body. Nutritional status can be good, fair and poor.
• Good nutritional status – characterized by an alert, good natured personality, a well
developed body with normal weight for height, well developed and firm muscles,
healthy skin, reddish pink colored eyelids and membranes of mouth, good layer of
subcutaneous fat, clear eyes, smooth and glossy hair, good appetite and excellent
general health which is recognized by stamina to work, regular meal time, sound
sleep, normal elimination and resistance to disease.
• Health – as defined by WHO is the ‘state of complete physical, mental
and social well being and not mere absence of disease or infirmity’.

• Malnutrition – undesirable kind of nutrition leading to ill health. It results from

lack, excess or imbalance of nutrients in the diet. It includes both under and
over nutrition. Under nutrition is a state of insufficient supply of essential
nutrients.
• Malnutrition can be primarily due to insufficient supply of one or more essential
nutrients or it can be secondary, which means it results from an error in metabolism,
interaction between nutrients or nutrients and drugs used for treatment.

• Over nutrition refers to an excessive intake of one or more nutrients which creates a
stress on bodily functions.
• Diet – refers to what ever is eaten or drunk each day. It includes normal
diet that is consumed either individually or in groups. Diets may be
modified for making it suitable for sick individuals as a part of treatment –
therapeutic diets
• Nutritional care – using knowledge of nutrition for meal planning and
preparation to make it in an attractive and acceptable form. In this the
existing meals can be modified to improve in terms of nutrition, and
acceptability. Diet can be planned for individuals or a group to suit
their requirements like health status, nutritional status, place of living,
climate etc,.
 FUNCTIONS OF FOOD

there are over forty essential nutrients which are supplied by the food we eat.
These nutrients can be classified into five' major categories (based on certain similar features):
proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. Water is important as a nutrient as well as a food.

Each of the nutrient categories has a specific physiological role to play.

Here the term "physiological role" refers to the role of food in maintaining certain specific body
functions.
Since food contains nutrients, it has physiological functions too.
Food also has social and psychological functions in addition to physiological ones
Physiological Functions: The physiological functions performed by food are the energy-giving.
body-building, protective and regulatory functions.

We need energy every moment of our lives for performing various types of activities such as sitting,
standing, walking and running and performing all our household and other tasks.

Several activities take place within the body as well e.g. beating of the heart, contraction Of the intestines,
expansion and contraction of the lungs.

Activities performed within the body also require expenditure of energy. The energy-giving function of
food is basically performed by two nutrient categories=-carbohydrates and fats.

This is why these nutrients are also referred to as the "body fuels". The situation. is similar to the burning
of coal or wood which are familiar fuels.

When these fuels are burnt, energy is released in the form of heat and light.

The fire we observe is, in fact, nothing but the conversion of the energy locked up in the fuel to 'heat
energy and light energy.

Similarly- carbohydrates and fats are burnt in the body. The energy that these substances contain is
released to perform the various activities that we talked about earlier.
Food is also needed for growth and repair. What is meant by these two terms'!

As you know, our body is made up of millions of units called cells.

When growth takes place, new cells are added to the 'existing ones.

The existing ones also increase in size. On the other hand, cells do get worn out and
die. These cells have to be replaced. This process is called repair.

For both growth and repair proteins are necessary. We can understand the role of
proteins in growth and development if we just think of the tremendous increase in
height and weight that occurs from infancy to adulthood. How does this take place?
This is made possible by the 'process of growth.
The other major physiological functions performed by food are the protective and
regulatory functions.

Protective refers to the role in preventing infection by ensuring proper functioning of

the body systems responsible for fighting infections.

Even if a person does develop an infection or any other type of illness, food and the
nutrients. facilitate rapid recovery.

A person eating a poor diet would take muchlonger to recover. He would get ill more
easily as well.
The regulatory function mentioned earlier refers to the role of food in controlling body
processes.

As you are aware, several proceses take place in the body such as the beating of the
heart, maintenance of body temperature and contraction of muscles.

Each of these processes is controlled.

Our body temperature, for example, is maintained at 98.4° F or 37°C.

Similarly, the rate at which the heart beats is also maintained. This is achieved by
certain specific nutrients (among other substances) and is illustrative of their
regulatory function. Vitamins, minerals, and proteins contribute substantially to both
protective and regulatory functions. So does water.
Several chemical reactions take place in the body.

With the aid of these chemical reactions, simpler substances are used to build more complex ones. Similarly, complex
substances are broken down into their simpler components

The rate at which these reactions proceed is carefully controlled according to the need of the body. Vitamins, minerals and.
proteins play a major role in controlling these reactions i.e. they act as regulators.
Nutrition is a scientific discipline with food as the major focus of interest. Nutrition also deals with several other related
aspects as the following definitions will illustrate.

The simplest definition of nutrition can be expressed thus: "the study of what happens to food once it enters the mouth and
thereafter." However, a more detailed definition would be: "the science of foods, the nutrients and other substances therein;
their action, interaction and balance in relationship to health and disease; the processes by which the organism ingests,
digests, absorbs, transports and utilizes nutrients and disposes of their end products. In addition, nutrition must be
concerned with the social, economic, cultural and psychological implications of food and eating,"

Nutrients: Action, Interaction and Balance

Food, as you know, contains nutrients as well as substances which are non-nutrients.
The body needs each nutrient in specific amounts.
Some are needed in relatively larger amounts (the macro nutrients) and some in smaller amounts (the
micro nutrients).
But they are all equally essential for our health. Each nutrient plays a significant role in the body. The mineral, calcium, for
example, helps build strong bones and teeth.
Bones and teeth also contain another mineral, phosphorus. Both calcium and phosphorus
must be supplied to the body in the required amounts and proportions to ensure the normal
growth of bones and teeth. This means that normal growth of
bones and teeth and maintenance of their normal structure and function requires an
interaction between these two nutrients.
The concept of balance can also be explained by taking the example of calcium and
phosphorus.
If the diet contains too much phosphorus, it prevents the body from taking in enough of
calcium.
This creates an imbalance between calcium and phosphorus and affects the bones and teeth.
This imbalance can be corrected by consuming foods that supply the two nutrients in the
correct proportions.
In the larger context, the term balance means that the nutrients needed by the body should
be provided in the right amount and proportions. This will, of course, ensure good health
Handling of Food and Nutrients by the Body
How does the body handle food? We take in food through our mouth where it is chewed and then swallowed.
It then passes down into the stomach and thereafter into a long. coiled, tube-like structure called the intestine.
Since our body cannot"utilize food as such, it alters its nature and converts it into utilizable forms by many
specific actions.
This process is called digestion.
Once digestion is completed, several nutrients are available to the body in a form in which the body can use
them further. The process by which nutrients- move from the intestine into the blood is referred to as
absorption.
The blood then transports them to all the cells of the body where they are utilized for different functions.
All the substances in the food which the body cannot absorb are thrown out in faeces.
The processing and handling by the body of absorbed nutrients results in the formation of certain other
substances or by-products.
Some of these are harmful and need to be thrown out of the body. This is achieved by transferring them from
the blood to the urine. The latter is then thrown out of the body.
We are all familiar with the term "health". What does his term mean'? Let us consider the
definition of health proposed by the World Health Organisation (WHO):
"Health is a state of complete physical, menial and social well-being and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity. "
This definition tells us that health is a positive state. In other words, health is a state of
complete well-being and not just the absence of disease.
A person may not be suffering from any disease and yet may not enjoy complete well-being.
There are so many times when we feel tired or exhausted and incapable of concentrating on
our work.
At such times we are not enjoying complete well-being, even though at other times we do.
There are also times when we suffer from an infection This means no person enjoys full
health all the time. However, we call a person healthy if he or she enjoys good health most of
the time. One dimension which is also gaining prominence is spiritual health. You would
notice that this dimension is not mentioned in the definition. Thig is a newer dimension which
is gaining recognition though it is still not precisely defined.
Mental Health
Mental health implies:
• freedom from internal conflicts
• no consistent tendency to condemn or pity oneself
• a good capacity to adjust to situations and people
• sensitivity to the emotional needs of others
• capacity to deal with other individuals with consideration and courtesy
• good control over one's own emotions without constantly giving in to strong feelings of fear, jealousy, anger or
guilt:'

Social Health
What is social health? If an individual recognizes that he she belongs to a family and
is able to identify with a wider community, the first step towards social health has
been taken. An individual who recognizes his/ her obligations towards other members
of society and is able to relate to other people around him/ her can be described as
socially healthy.
Nutritional status is the condition of health of an individual as influenced by the
utilization of nutrients. How do we determine the nutritional status
To determine nutritional status all you have to do is to put together information about:
• what kind of diet is being consumed;
• what types of illnesses, if any, the person has suffered/ is suffering from including any
observable signs of ill health such as discoloured skin or bleeding;
• what is the level of nutrients and other substances in the blood and urine (as determined
by blood and urine tests).
Nutrition is closely interlinked with health. If a person eats the right kind of foods in the required amounts, he or she will
keep good health provided no other factors intervene. On the other hand, a poor eating pattern or eating too little or too
much will.result in poor health
 SUMMARY

Food has been described as "anything which nourishes the body". Food. we learnt. has many
specific functions. It provides energy, helps build the body, protects it against disease and
regulates body processes. In addition, it helps to bring people together.
Nutrition encompasses the study of food and how it is handled by the body. It also explores
the influence of social, psychological and economic factors on our eating patterns.

Health is a state of complete well-being. It has physical, mental, social and spiritual
dimensions. The interrelationship between these dimensions has been highlighted.

In addition we have talked about the fact that nutrition and health are intimately linked. Good
health cannot be achieved without eating the proper kinds of foods in the amounts needed.