THE MEANING AND THE

IMPORTANCE OF NUTRITION
 Nutrition
• is the study of food and how the
body makes use of it.

• deals with the quantity and

quality of food as well as with the
process of receiving and utilizing
it for the growth and renewal of
the body and for the
maintenance of the different
body functions.
 Function of Nutrition
• Is to maintain life by allowing an
individual to grow and be in a state of
optimum health
Nutritional science is applied
to nursing care
• Recognition of the role of nutrition in
preventing diseases or illness;

• Concern for adapting food patterns of

individuals to their nutritional needs within
the framework of their cultural, economic,
and psychological situations and styles; and

• The awareness of the need in specified disease

states to modify nutritional factors for
therapeutic purpose.
 Nutrients
• are chemical substances found in food,

• provide heat and energy to build and repair

body tissues, and to regulate body processes,

• necessary to carry out physiological

functions.
 Classification of Nutrients
• Function
• Chemical properties
• Essentiality
• Concentration
 Classification of Nutrients
• Function – those that • Chemical properties –
form tissues in the nutrients are either
body are body building organic or inorganic
nutrients while those
that furnish heat and
energy are fats,
carbohydrates, and
proteins.
 Classification of Nutrients
• Essentiality – Nutrients • Concentration –
are classified based on nutrients are either in
their significant large amounts or in
contribution to the little amounts.
body’s physiological
functioning.
 Food
• when taken and digested nourishes the body,

• vital need without which a person cannot live,

• culturally acceptable as it supples heat and

energy, builds and repairs body tissues, and
regulates body processes.
 FUNCTION OF FOOD
• 1. Energy-
Energy- Yielding,
• 2. Body-
Body-building, and
• 3. Protective foodstuffs
 FUNCTION OF FOOD
• 1. Energy-
Energy- Yielding
- Food provides energy to keep the body
warm, the muscles active for work
and play and the various organs alert
to carry out daily activities
 FUNCTION OF FOOD
• 1. Energy-
Energy- Yielding
- Foodstuffs form the great bulk of the
ordinary diet.
- They supply energy to keep the body
warm and are hence known as ‘fuel-
‘fuel-
food’.
- A few examples of energy-
energy-yielding
foodstuff are cereals, starchy
vegetables, nuts, sugar, and oils.
 FUNCTION OF FOOD
• 2. Body
Body--building
- Food supplies body building nutrients needed
for growth, while the fetus develops in
the mother’s womb, new tissues are being
continuously built. This process right
through infancy, childhood and
adolescence. During these stages of life,
there is a tremendous demand for body
building nutrient that are essential
everyday to replace the daily “wear and
tear”.
 FUNCTION OF FOOD
• 2. Body-
Body-building
- Contain a satisfactory amount of the nutrients
needs to buils the body and replace the
worn--out tissues
worn
- Milk and its products, meat, fish, and eggs are
the best representatives of this group of
foodstuffs.
- Other examples are legumes, dried beans, peas
and nuts.
- Cereals also contain some body-
body-building
nutrients
 FUNCTION OF FOOD
• 3. Protective foodstuffs
- Required in minute quantities.
- Variety of these nutrients, each responsible
for a specific task in the body. If the diet
is deficient or lacking in one or more of
these vital substances, it leads to
derangement of the body, resulting in ill-
ill-
health, stunted growth and imperfect
development.
 FUNCTION OF FOOD
• 3. Protective foodstuffs
- Provide large number of the protective
substances needed by the body.
- Almost all natural foodstuffs contain one or more
of these protective nutrients.
- There is no single foodtsuff in which all the
different protective substances are present in
quantities sufficient to meet the daily needs
of the body.
- Combination of different kends of foodstuff is
essential in a diet.
 FUNCTION OF FOOD
• 3. Protective foodstuffs
- Best example of this group of foodstuffs are
green vegetables, fresh fruits, milk, meat,
fish, and eggs.
- Protective foodstuffs contain sufficient
amounts of one or more of the protective
nutrients so that a combination of them
yeilds enough to maintain life.
 BALANCE DIET
• To obtain adequate amounts of each of the
different nutrients, our daily diet should
include appropriate quantities of a variety of
different foodstuffs.

• Un
Un--varied diet is not only distasteful bt may
have serious consequences on health and
recovery from disease.
 BALANCE DIET
• A diet in which various foodstuffs are mixed in
suitable propotions to carry out adequately
the three functions (energy, body
body--building,
protective) is known as a balance diet.

• Balance diet provides all nutrients in required

amounts and proper proportions