Nutrition

Nutrition is the way in which the interaction of nutrients and other substances in food in relation to maintenance of the body, growth, reproduction, health and disease, of an organism is interpreted. It includes food intake, absorption, assimilation, biosynthesis, anabolism, and catabolism.

The diet of an organism is what it eats, which is largely determined by what food is available and how it tastes. For humans, a healthy diet includes how the food is prepared and how it is stored to preserve nutrients from oxidation, heat or leaching, and that reduces risk of food borne diseases such as cholera.

In humans, an unhealthy diet can cause deficiency-related diseases such as night blindness, low blood count (anemia), scurvy, preterm birth (premature babies, stillbirth i.e babies born dead and cretinism (congenital iodine defficiency syndrome), or nutrient excess health-threatening conditions such as obesity and metabolic syndrome; and such common chronic systemic diseases as cardiovascular (heart related) disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis (bone weakening). Undernutrition can lead to wasting in acute cases, and the stunting of marasmus (malnutrition characterised by energy loss) in chronic cases of malnutrition.