The process by which organisms obtain, use, and metabolize nutrients and other components of food needed for energy, growth, maintenance, and normal body function.
Nutrition involves more than simply eating enough food. It includes the intake, digestion, absorption, metabolism, and use of nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water.
Adequate nutrition supports growth, immune function, tissue repair, metabolism, and overall health. Poor nutrition can involve deficiency, excess, imbalance, or inappropriate distribution of nutrients.
QUICK FACT
A person can consume enough calories and still have poor nutrition if their diet lacks essential nutrients or contains excessive amounts of certain components.
COMMONLY CONFUSED WITH
Diet: the foods and beverages a person habitually consumes; nutrition concerns how those substances are obtained, processed, and used by the body.
SEE ALSO
