Nutrition is a scientific discipline which essentially deals with food and the related issues. The simple meaning of nutrition is "the study of what happens to food once it is being consumed by the individual."
Nutrition is closely associated with health. If a person eats right kind of foods in right amounts, that person will keep good health provided no other factors intervene. If there is any imbalance in eating pattern i.e., eating too little or too much will result in poor health. It must be emphasized, however, that though good food is one of the crucial factors in ensuring health, it is not the only one. The food eaten must not only be nutritious but also it must be complete and clean. If this is not so, the person eating the food would get ill even if the food is nutritious.
If the right food is not consumed in right quantities by a person it results in malnutrilion. 'This malnutrition can result in either inadequate or excessive intake of food. In other words, malnutrition refers to both undernuuition and overnutrition. Undernutrition means inadequate intake of right food. And overnutrition means excessive intake ol: right food But undernuuition and overnutrition both result in ill health. One example of undernutrition is 'vitamin A deficiency' when young children do not consume enough vitamin A rich foods; their eyes are affected initially and blindness results ultimately. An example of overnutrition is 'obesity'. When a person takes in more energy than he is able to spend his daily activities, he accumulates fat in the body and his weight increases. If the weight increases substantially, the person becomes obese.
Now you will came to know what is nutrition and its relation to health and imbalance in rood intake. You will be exposed to the term 'nutritional status' It is a condition of health of an individual as influenced by the utilization of foods consumed. To assess the nutritional status all you have to do is to collect the following information:
- What roods and how much are being consumed?
- What observable (clinical) signs of ill health? (e.g., bleeding gums)
- What is the level of nutrients in the blood and urine? (can be done in the clinical laboratories)
If a person does not consume enough of foods rich in vitamin C (citrus fruits, guava etc.) its level in the blood will drop and one can predict that the person is likely to get vitamin C deficiency (bleeding gums etc.).
Nutritional status can also be substituted with a term nutritional health, but generally nutritional status is referred to a group of individuals in a society. Hence nutritional status is assessed for a group of individuals in a society. Such information falls under the preview of community nutrition.
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