Nurtion Case

Nutrition Chapter 9

Chapter 9 begins with the importance of Diet and Nutrition. Diet is one's usual pattern of food choices, this is important to pay attention to even while you are young because you only get one body and poor diet at a young age sets a person up for chronic health issues and diseases, such as CVD (cardiovascular disease) which includes heart disease, stroke diabetes, obesity, and certain cancers. The next topic is Nutrition Principles; Nutrients are substances in food that are necessary for growth, repair and maintenance of body tissues. Non Nutrients are the substances in foods that you can live without, many of these are naturally found in plants and have beneficial effects on the human body. However some non nutrients have negative effects on the human body such as pesticides, residues or lead that enter food unintentionally and can be hazardous. When the human body consumes food it goes in through the mouth and is chewed and broken down with the help of the salivary glands in the digestive system. It goes down the esophagus, to the stomach where it is broken down even more with acids and then kicked out to the intestines. There the food nutrients are absorbed into the blood and taken to where the body needs it most, the non nutrients and other wastes are expelled from the body. Metabolism is all of the chemical reactions that take place in the body, contributing to the breaking down of nutrients. The body receives its energy from the nutrients, most carbohydrates, sugars and starches, come from plant foods and contribute to much of the energy the body uses. Plants also have other substances that the small intestines can not digest, can dietary fibers. Soluble forms swell or dissolve in water, insoluble forms retain their form in water and help foods pass through body. Other forms of energy include Proteins (amino acids), and Lipids (cholesterols good and bad). These all can be found and balanced by using the food pyramid, from the USDA.