What Are the Nutrients?

Food is any material consumed to give nutrition to organisms. Usually food is of animal, plant or fungi origin, and usually contains necessary nutrients, like proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, or other minerals. The five major groups of food are animal food, vegetable food, dietary food, and fungi food. Animal food can be animal skin, blood, milk, feathers, or fur; plant food may be seeds, roots, fruits, vegetables, or even plant parts like leaves, flowers, wood, roots, stems and so on. Fungi food is generally leftovers like potatoes, beans, grain products, meat, bones, fish, dairy products, and eggs.

In order to obtain the food necessary to sustain life, it is necessary that the food contains all the necessary components. These include carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water. Food that does not contain any of these components is known as poor food, which contains few nutrients that are not essential for the organism to survive. Good food is food that provides all the necessary nutrients to the organism without requiring additional supplementation from supplements.

It is advised that humans eat a well-balanced diet, which consists of a good amount of food from each of the five groups of food, so that the diet receives all the nutritional requirements. However, it should be remembered that the quantity of food consumed is not the only thing that matters for a healthy and balanced diet. Also, the quality of food that is eaten is also important. Good food is nutritious food, free from all defects that may hamper its nutritious benefits; whereas unhealthy food is nutritious food, that does not provide the right nutrients needed by the body. In fact, an unhealthy lifestyle may lead to more serious health problems, including obesity, tooth decay, cardio-vascular disease, diabetes, cancer, heart diseases, etc.