If you have ever taken supplements to address a health concern and added a scoop of protein powder to the post-workout smoothie to boost your gains, you should be thankful to nutritionists working on nutrition science.
If you want to learn about nutrition science, you are in the right place. This complete guide to nutrition science will provide complete insights into nutritional principles and evolution history, the role of micronutrients and macronutrients, and how nutrition impacts both physical and mental health. So let’s go.
What Is Nutrition Science?
Nutrition Science, also called nutritional science, and shortly nutrition, is the science that studies how food impacts our bodies, health, and overall wellness (primarily human bodies and overall health). It is the study of different nutrients in foods, how the body uses them, and the relation between balanced diets, health, and diseases.
Nutrition science also focuses on how people choose their dieting plan to prevent different kinds of diseases. What happens if a person takes in a high amount or insufficient amount of nutrients?
Nutrition Science is also combined with food science. The term “Trophology” is also used for nutrition science in other languages globally,
The evolution of nutrition science has been a long journey and has progressed significantly over the last few centuries. Chemists and nutritionists have worked on the role of food and nutrients, especially macronutrients that include carbohydrates, protein, and fats, in the 19th century.
In the early years of the 20th century, chemists discovered vitamins and minerals and their importance to overall health, and coined the term “vitamin” in 1912. The first vitamin (B1) was chemically defined as Thiamine in 1926.
What is Nutrition Therapy?
Nutrition therapy or nutritional therapy is a nutritional-based treatment approach that uses personalized diet and nutritional interventions to treat or manage specific health conditions. These include conditions like diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, and digestive disorders are managed through nutrition therapy.
The purpose of nutrition therapy is to boost health by providing the required nutrients to the body to function properly and support healing, with the combination of medications and other therapies.
How Does Nutrition Affect Your Overall Health?
Nutrition is about eating a healthy balanced diet regularly. Nutrition is important for maintaining good health because it provides nutrients to the body.
Optimal nutrition helps to provide energy to the body and improves infant, maternal, and child health, immune system, and safer pregnancy and childbirth. It also plays a role in lowering the risk of non-communicable diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, reproduction, longevity, and overall health.
What Are Nutrients?
Nutrients are substances that the body can not produce in sufficient amounts, so they must be obtained through a healthy balanced diet. There are 6 essential nutrients, each plays a specific unique role in body functions and overall health, and are classified into two categories.
- Macronutrients are those nutrients that are required for your body in large amounts. Carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and water are the macronutrients.
- Micronutrients are those nutrients that are required in small amounts. Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals.
What Are the Principles of Optimal nutrition?
Optimal nutrition consists of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and some processed foods. But I recommend you ask specialists for advice on making any diet plan or any changes in the diet plan. There are following 3 basic principles of optimal nutrition:
- Balance: Consuming the right amount of nutrients through a healthy diet is necessary for body functions and to improve overall health.
- Quality: Prefer healthy and nutrient-dense foods, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein. Avoid eating processed foods that are high in sugar, and unhealthy fats.
- Timing: It is very important when you eat a diet just like what you eat. Properly time-spacing meals can improve energy levels and nutrient absorption for better performance and overall health.
Common myths of nutrition and the facts behind them
There are the following common nutrition myths and the facts behind them:
- Myth: Fats make you fat. You should avoid fats to stay healthy.
- Fact: All fats are not bad actually. Fats that are obtained from avocados, whole eggs, fatty fish, nuts, extra virgin olive oil, and full-fat yogurt are beneficial for overall health if you reduce eating foods that contain unhealthy fats and exercise regularly.
- Myth: Carbohydrates are the enemies that cause weight gain.
- Fact: Not all carbohydrates are bad. Complex carbohydrates (a type of carbohydrates) are healthy choices for your body. Complex carbohydrates can be obtained from whole grains and vegetables.
- Myth: Egg yolk is unhealthy and contains fats at high levels.
- Fact: People think that eating egg yolk is unhealthy and contains large amounts of fats that raise the cholesterol level in the blood. Studies show that eating egg yolk has a minimal effect on people’s blood cholesterol and also egg yolk contains essential nutrients like vitamins, and healthy fats.
- Myth: Eating dinner late at night causes weight gain.
- Fact: It is not important when you eat but important is how much you consume calories. Total daily calorie intake is more important so you should calculate the calorie intake.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, we will revise what we have explained in this article, that nutrition science plays a very important role in understanding the studies on how much foods impact our overall health. It examines the effects of various nutrients on overall body functions, disease prevention, and maintenance of a balanced diet.
Nutrition science provides a foundation for a healthy lifestyle from macronutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and water to micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. Following the basic principles of optimal nutrition, i.e. balance, quality, and timing, along with debunking common myths about nutrition and the facts behind them, allows individuals to make informed dietary choices that support physical and mental health for a longer and healthier life.
If you need clarification, feel free to go back and read again to learn those important concepts.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
Q1: How to start healthy eating habits?
Ans: The best way to start eating a healthy diet is to make gradual changes to your diet. Prefer to eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins while reducing processed foods. Stay hydrated, avoid sugar and unhealthy fats, and balance your plate with protein, fiber, and healthy carbohydrates. Start small, set realistic goals, and track your meals to stay on track.
Q2: How do make sure you are getting enough nutrients?
Ans: To ensure you are getting all the necessary nutrients like vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, healthy carbohydrates, lean proteins, and water, eat a variety of healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fatty fish, nuts, and legumes. Focus on nutrient-dense foods and aim for balance in your meals. Avoid supplements if not recommended by the specialists.
Q3: Why is diet more important than exercise?
Ans: Diet and exercise, both play an important role in fitness and maintaining weight loss. Diet is considered more important than exercise because diet directly affects calorie intake. At the same time, exercise plays an important role in burning calories.
