Nutrient Requirements in Health and Disease

Abstract

Good health is central to handling stress and living a longer, more active life. Mental and physical health is probably the two most commonly discussed types of health. Spiritual, emotional, and financial health also contributes to overall health. Good health depends on getting enough to eat. Poor nutrition and its related illnesses, are responsible for more numbers of deaths than any other health issues, and are high dangerous to young children in poor and developing countries. Many factors determine the health of a population, including diet, hygiene, education, socioeconomic status, and lifestyle. Onset of teenage brings many physiological changes in human body. The growth boosts up significantly. This growth occurs due to the high activity of hormones which affect organs of the human body. Good food is needed for a person’s better growth, hard work, and to stay healthy. People do not automatically think of their foods as sources of energy and nutrients; rather, foods are eaten to satisfy hunger, a physiologic need that helps keep the body’s functions operating. Nutrition is the quantity and quality of food that the body receives. The human system breaks down the food items to get the desired molecules that is actually required by the body. Nutrition, especially sensing and absorption of energy substances, not only plays an important role in the intensity of life activities and storage of energy substances but also regulates the aging and lifespan. Human health gets weakened if there is no food security and they are susceptible to many diseases like poor immune system, disability, and death from many diseases like diarrhea, measles, and tuberculosis. Health and nutrition are the most important contributory factors for human resource development in the country. India has been classified by the World Bank as a country with a lower-middle income, with per capita GNP of US $ 996-3945. It ranks 160th in terms of human development among 209 countries. Among the Indian population, about 28% in the rural and 26% in the urban areas are estimated to be below the poverty line, which is defined as the expenditure needed to obtain, on an average, 2400 Kcal per capita per day in the rural areas and 2100 Kcal in urban areas. Long-term malnutrition leads to stunting and wasting, noncommunicable chronic diet-related disorders, increased morbidity and mortality, and reduced physical work output. It is a great economic loss to the country and decreases development (National Research Council, Diet and health: implications for reducing chronic disease risk. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1989).