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Human nutrition deals with the provision of essential nutrients in food that are necessary to support human life and good health. [1] Poor nutrition is a chronic problem often linked to poverty, food security , or a poor understanding of nutritional requirements. [ 2 ]
Human behavior is closely related to human nutrition, making it a subject of social science in addition to biology. Nutrition in humans is balanced with eating for pleasure, and optimal diet may vary depending on the demographics and health concerns of each person. [37] Humans are omnivores that eat a variety of foods.
Nutritional science (also nutrition science, sometimes short nutrition, dated trophology [1]) is the science that studies the physiological process of nutrition (primarily human nutrition), interpreting the nutrients and other substances in food in relation to maintenance, growth, reproduction, health and disease of an organism.
The human diet can vary widely. In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism . [ 1 ] The word diet often implies the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management reasons (with the two often being related).
Human food can be classified in various ways, either by related content or by how it is processed. [8] The number and composition of food groups can vary. Most systems include four basic groups that describe their origin and relative nutritional function: Vegetables and Fruit, Cereals and Bread, Dairy, and Meat. [ 9 ]
By definition, phytochemicals include all nutritional and non-nutritional components of edible plants. [36] Included as nutritional constituents are provitamin A carotenoids , [ 37 ] whereas those without nutrient status are diverse polyphenols , flavonoids , resveratrol , and lignans that are present in numerous plant foods. [ 38 ]
[3] [6] For human nutrition, micronutrient requirements are in amounts generally less than 100 milligrams per day, whereas macronutrients are required in gram quantities daily. [6] A multiple micronutrient powder of at least iron, zinc, and vitamin A was added to the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines in 2019. [7]
In biology, this is typically done to provide a heterotrophic organism with energy and nutrients and to allow for growth. Animals and other heterotrophs must eat in order to survive — carnivores eat other animals, herbivores eat plants, omnivores consume a mixture of both plant and animal matter, and detritivores eat detritus.