Nutrition and Food Chemistry

Food, Nutrition and Health

Nutrition is the science that interprets the interaction of nutrients and other substances in relation to maintenance, growth, reproduction, health and disease of an organism. It includes food intake, absorption, assimilation, biosynthesis, catabolism and excretion. The diet of an organism is what it eats, which is largely determined by the availability, processing and palatability of foods. A healthy diet includes preparation of food and storage methods that preserve nutrients from oxidation, heat or leaching, and that reduce risk of food-borne illnesses. A poor diet may have an injurious impact on health, causing deficiency diseases such as blindness, anaemia, scurvy, preterm birth, stillbirth and cretinism; health-threatening conditions like obesity and metabolic syndrome; and such common chronic systemic diseases as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis.