NUTRITION

Nutrition is the study of the role of nutrients in food (macronutrients, micronutrients, water and bioactive substances) and its influence on the health and well-being of an individual throughout their lifespan. It is a multidisciplinary field that integrates scientific disciplines including biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics and social science. It studies the physiological and biochemical processes involved in providing nutrients to the human body. At the same time, humans react on foods by sensing, digesting, metabolising and storing the nutrients as it is transformed into energy or converted into body tissues. The important part of nutrition is also to study the relationship between diet, health and disease. Imbalance of diet or malnutrition could lead to the development of chronic disease. Conversely, right dietary choices could also prevent the risk of disease. Additionally, nutrition also looks into the behaviours and social factors to understand the socio-cultural, physiology, economic and politics that could influence food choice and health status. All in all, nutrition is a diverse applied science from the study of biochemical pathways and relationship with genetics, observing population intake, to designing and performing interventions to improve nutritional status of community. On the organisational level (both national and international), nutrition programs and policies are also developed to ensure accessibility toward healthy, safety and nutritious food are within the reach of the community.