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Nutrition
Nutrition is a hot topic today because many people are
focusing more on their health than in the past. Rather than
focusing on what is missing in our diets, which was the focus
of nutritionists (people who specialize in the study of
nutrition) in the 1960s, the focus today is on avoiding too
much fat or sugar and on the effects of unnatural
substances, such as food coloring. Nutrition has the
following meanings in the field of medicine:
1. All of the processes by which an animal or plant takes in
and uses food substances for proper and healthy body
functioning. These processes include metabolism (a
chemical process in the body by which food is broken down
and changed to energy).
FEATURED BOOK: Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition
They also include taking in food, digesting food, absorbing nutrients (healthy substances)
in food, building up tissue in the body based on the passage of these healthy substances
through the blood, and food excretion (releasing from the body as waste).
2. The study of the foods and liquids that are required for the human body to function
normally and in a healthy manner. Nutrition also involves the study of how these foods
and liquids are digested and how the nutrients (healthy substances) in these foods pass
through the blood to build up tissue in the body. Such functions include growth, energy,
activity, and reproduction.
"Where Medical Information is Easy to Understand"™
3. The act or process of nourishing or being nourished. Nourish means to promote the growth of. Nutrition
comes from the Latin word "nutrio" meaning "to nourish."
