Nutrient

A nutrient is a chemical that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism’s metabolism which must be taken in from its environment. They are used to build and repair tissues, regulate body processes and are converted to and used as energy. Methods for nutrient intake vary, with animals and protists consuming foods that are digested by an internal digestive system, but most plants ingest nutrients directly from the soil through their roots or from the atmosphere.

Nutrient

Organic nutrients include carbohydrates, fats, proteins (or their building blocks, amino acids), and vitamins. Inorganic chemical compounds such as dietary minerals, water, and oxygen may also be considered nutrients. A nutrient is said to be “essential” if it must be obtained from an external source, either because the organism cannot synthesize it or produces insufficient quantities. Nutrients needed in very small amounts are micronutrients and those that are needed in larger quantities are called macronutrients. The effects of nutrients are dose-dependent and shortages are called deficiencies.

 

See healthy diet for more information on the role of nutrients in human nutrition.

 

Types of nutrient

Macronutrients is defined in several different ways.

  • The chemical elements humans consume in the largest quantities are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulphur, or CHNOPS.
  • The classes of chemical compounds humans consume in the largest quantities and which provide bulk energy are carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Water and atmospheric oxygen also must be consumed in large quantities, but are not always considered “food” or “nutrients”.
  • Calcium, salt (sodium and chloride), magnesium, and potassium (along with phosphorus and sulfur) are sometimes added to the list of macronutrients because they are required in large quantities compared to other vitamins and minerals. They are sometimes referred to as the macrominerals.

 

Substances that provide energy

  • Carbohydrates are compounds made up of types of sugars. Carbohydrates are classified by their number of sugar units: monosaccharides (such as glucose and fructose), disaccharides (such as sucrose and lactose), oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides (such as starch, glycogen, and cellulose).
  • Proteins are organic compounds that consist of the amino acids joined by peptide bonds. The body cannot manufacture some of the amino acids (termed essential amino acids); the diet must supply these. In nutrition, proteins are broken down through digestion by proteases back into free amino acids.
  • Fats consist of a glycerin molecule with three fatty acids attached. Fatty acids are unbranched hydrocarbon chains, connected by single bonds alone (saturated fatty acids) or by both double and single bonds (unsaturated fatty acids). Fats are needed to keep cell membranes functioning properly, to insulate body organs against shock, to keep body temperature stable, and to maintain healthy skin and hair. The body does not manufacture certain fatty acids (termed essential fatty acids) and the diet must supply these.

Fat has an energy content of 9 kcal/g (~37.7 kJ/g); proteins and carbohydrates 4 kcal/g (~16.7 kJ/g). Ethanol (grain alcohol) has an energy content of 7 kcal/g (~29.3 kJ/g).

Substances that support metabolism

  • Dietary minerals are generally trace elements, salts, or ions such as copper and iron. Some of these minerals are essential to human metabolism.
  • Vitamins are organic compounds essential to the body. They usually act as coenzymes or cofactors for various proteins in the body.
  • Water is an essential nutrient and is the solvent in which all the chemical reactions of life take place.
Main articles: Plant nutrition and Fertilizer

The strip of a green alga (Enteromorpha) along this shore indicates that there is a nearby source of nutrients (probably nitrates or ammonia from a small estuary).

Plants absorb nutrients from the soil or the atmosphere, or from water (mainly aquatic plants) an exception are the carnivorous plants, which externally digest nutrients from animals, before ingesting them.

The chemical elements consumed in the greatest quantities by plants are carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. These are present in the environment in the form of water and carbon dioxide; energy is provided by sunlight. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur are also needed in relatively large quantities. Together, the “Big Six” are the elemental macronutrients for all organisms, often represented by the acronym CHNOPS. Usually they are sourced from inorganic (e.g. carbon dioxide, water, nitrate, phosphate, sulfate) or organic (e.g. carbohydrates, lipids, proteins) compounds, although elemental diatomic molecules of nitrogen and (especially) oxygen are often used.

Other chemical elements are also necessary to carry out various life processes and build structures; see fertilizer and micronutrient for more information.

Some of these are considered macronutrients in certain organisms. The mnemonic C. HOPKiN’S CaFe Mg (to be used as C. Hopkins coffee mug) is used by some students to remember the list as: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen, sulfur, calcium, iron, and magnesium. Silicon, chloride, sodium, copper, zinc, and molybdenum are sometimes also included, but are in other cases considered micronutrients.

Essential and non-essential nutrients

Main article: Essential nutrient

Nutrients are frequently categorized as essential or nonessential. Essential nutrients are unable to be synthesized internally (either at all, or in sufficient quantities), and so must be consumed by an organism from its environment. Nonessential nutrients are those nutrients that can be made by the body, they may often also be absorbed from consumed food. The majority of animals ultimately derive their essential nutrients from plants, though some animals may consume mineral-based soils to supplement their diet.

For humans, these include essential fatty acids, essential amino acids, vitamins, and certain dietary minerals. Oxygen and water are also essential for human survival, but are generally not considered “food” when consumed in isolation.

Humans can derive energy from a wide variety of fats, carbohydrates, proteins, and ethanol, and can synthesize other needed amino acids from the essential nutrients.

Non-essential substances within foods can still have a significant impact on health, whether beneficial or toxic. For example, most dietary fiber is not absorbed by the human digestive tract, but is important in digestion and absorption of otherwise harmful substances. Interest has recently increased in phytochemicals, which include many non-essential substances which may have health benefits.

Deficiencies and toxicity

An inadequate amount of a nutrient is a deficiency. Deficiencies can be due to a number of causes including inadequacy in nutrient intake called dietary deficiency, or conditions that interfere with the utilization of a nutrient within an organism. Some of the conditions that can interfere with nutrient utilization include problems with nutrient absorption, substances that cause a greater than normal need for a nutrient, conditions that cause nutrient destruction, and conditions that cause greater nutrient excretion.

Nutrient toxicity occurs when an excess of a nutrient does harm to an organism.

In plants five types of deficiency or toxicity symptoms are common:

  • Chlorosis – which is the yellowing of plant tissue caused by a shortage of chlorophyll synthesis.
  • Necrosis – which is the death of plant tissue.
  • Accumulation of anthocynanin – which produces a purple or reddish colorization of foliage and/or stems.
  • Lack of new growth.
  • Stunting or reduced growth – where new growth is stunted or reduced.

Oversupply of plant nutrient in the environment can cause excessive plant and algae growth. Eutrophication, as this process is called, may cause imbalances in population numbers and other nutrient that can be harmful to certain species. For example, an algal bloom can deplete the oxygen available for fish to breathe. Causes include water pollution from sewage or runoff from farms (carrying excess agricultural fertilizer).The nutrient Nitrogen and phosphorus are most commonly the limiting factor in growth, and thus the most likely to trigger eutrophication when introduced artificially

The Paleo Recipe Book

Also Read:
What Is A Macronutrient – Intralean

Homeostasis

Homeostasis (from Greek: ὅμοιος, hómoios, "similar" and στάσις, stásis, "standing still";) is the property of a system that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition of properties like temperature or pH. It can be either an open or closed system. It was defined by Claude Bernard and later by Walter Bradford Cannon in 1926, 1929 and 1932. Typically used to refer to a living organism, the concept came from that of milieu interieur that was created by Claude Bernard and published in 1865. Multiple dynamic equilibrium adjustment and regulation mechanisms make homeostasis possible.   Biological Further information: Human homeostasis With regards to any given life system parameter, an organism may be a conformer or a regulator. On one hand, regulators try to maintain the parameter at a constant level over possibly wide ambient environmental variations. On the other hand, conformers allow the environment to determine the parameter. For instance, endothermic animals (mammals and birds) maintain a constant body temperature, while ectothermic animals (almost all other organisms) exhibit wide body temperature variation. Behavioral adaptations allow ectothermic animals to exert some control over a given parameter. For instance, reptiles often rest on sun-heated rocks in the morning to raise their body temperature. Regulators are ...

Essential Nutrients

Essential nutrients are nutrients required for normal body functioning that either cannot be synthesized by the body at all, or cannot be synthesized in amounts adequate for good health (e.g. niacin, choline), and thus must be obtained from a dietary source. Essential nutrients are also defined by the collective physiological evidence for their importance in the diet, as represented in e.g. US government approved tables for Dietary Reference Intake. Some categories of these include vitamins, dietary minerals, essential fatty acids, and essential amino acids.  For example, most mammals synthesize their own ascorbic acid, and it is therefore not considered an essential nutrient for such species. It is, however, an essential nutrient for human beings, who require external sources of ascorbic acid (known as Vitamin C in the context of nutrition). Many essential nutrients are toxic in large doses (see hypervitaminosis or the nutrient pages themselves below). Some can be taken in amounts larger than required in a typical diet, with no apparent ill effects. Linus Pauling said of vitamin B3, (either niacin or niacinamide), "What astonished me was the very low toxicity of a substance that has such very great physiological power. A little pinch, 5 mg, every day, is enough to ...

Protein Foods

Protein Foods are polymer chains made of amino acids linked together by peptide bonds. Protein and carbohydrates contain 4 kcal per gram as opposed to lipids which contain 9 kcal per gram. Amino acids can be divided into either essential amino acids or non-essential amino acids. The essential amino acids, which must be obtained from food sources, are leucine, isoleucine, valine, lysine, threonine, tryptophan, methionine, phenylalanine and histidine. On the other hand, non-essential amino acids can be made by the body from other amino acids. The non-essential amino acids are arginine, alanine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamine, glutamic acid, glycine, proline, serine, and tyrosine. In nutrition, protein foods are broken down in the stomach during digestion by enzymes known as proteases into smaller polypeptides to provide amino acids for the body, including the essential amino acids that cannot be biosynthesized by the body itself. Thus, protein foods from one's diet should provide both essential and non-essential amino acids for protein synthesis. Most animal and certain vegetable protein foods are considered complete protein foods with a full complement of essential amino acids in adequate proportions. People who avoid animal products may practice protein foods combining to get the essential amino acids in their diet. Protein ...

Lose Weight Plans

Why Can't I Lose Weight? That's the question many people ask when their weight loss plan isn't working. Asking yourself 'Why can't I lose weight?' is actually one of the best things you can do for yourself. It says you know that what you're currently doing isn't working for you. You're at the place where you're ready to look at alternatives - try something different to get a result you want. So why can't you lose weight? Here are 3 possible reasons you may not be losing weight - and some suggestions on what you can do about it. #1) Medical Reasons Now this is not the same as saying you're genetically programmed to be overweight. That is hogwash. In fact scientists estimate that even if you do have a genetic propensity to gain weight, your genes only account for 15 - 25% of your current weight. So forget the genetics excuse. But there are medical reasons that some people can't lose weight. Low thyroid, adrenal exhaustion, insulin resistance and other medical conditions can make losing weight near to impossible. That's why before starting any weight loss plan, you should talk to your doctor first. Have a full workup and make sure that you don't have any health ...

Essential Nutrients for Healthy Nutrition

Nutritious Foods for Healthy Living- Essential Nutrients for Healthy Nutrition When it comes to essential nutrients for healthy nutrition, we are not generally talking about increasing your protein intake or cutting the carbs. Healthy nutrition is more about maintaining a balance of all the elements required by our body. The human body is a combination of several different internal systems, which perform their specific tasks in a manner different than the other. Each system has its own set of processes that consume different amounts of energy and nutrients. To weight-watchers’ surprises, some of your internal processes even require fat and sugar. That is why you must take a diet which contains a balanced amount of essential nutrients for healthy nutrition. Know Your Food Groups In order to balance your nutritional intake, you must learn about the major food groups and the amount you should include in your diet. Here are the five major food groups essential for a nutritional diet. • Carbohydrates and Starch • Fats and Sugar • Fruits and Vegetables • Proteins • Milk and Dairy Let’s investigate each of these major groups and find out how each of these contribute to provide essential nutrients for your body. Carbohydrates and Fibre Cutting carbs is the most pathetic diet tip from ...

How the Human Body Maintains Homeostasis

  Human homeostasis is a pretty fancy word that basically means ‘equilibrium.’ It’s the process that allows us to function in a variety of different climates. Not every creature can accomplish this amazing feat and while temperature is the most common and easily recognizable factors that highlight human homeostasis, there are certainly others to consider. The Influence of Climate and Vegetation on Human homeostasis Climate is one of the most important factors when it comes to homeostasis. Where you live in the world directly affects how your body maintains your core body temperature, your weight, and the kinds of foods that you consume. When you look around the world, you’ll notice that different cultures have significantly different diets. That’s because the food that they grow (that is indigenous to the region) is different than in other parts of the world. When your diet changes, your body makes adjustments as best it can. When you begin to consume different foods that contain different  vitamins and nutrients, your body must break down these in a different manner. In order to help you understand how to maintain homeostasis to ensure healthy living, let’s uncover more about how it all works, Basic Regulation of Human Homeostasis The most common and ...

The New Harvard Healthy Eating Plate Diet, 2011

[caption id="attachment_690" align="alignleft" width="300"] Copyright © 2011 Harvard University. For more information about The Healthy Eating Plate, please see The Nutrition Source, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, http://www.thenutritionsource.org and HarvardHealth Publications, health.harvard.edu.[/caption]  Understanding the New Harvard Healthy Eating Plate Diet The new Harvard Healthy Eating  Plate  is one of the keys to good healthy living today. For many years, people had become accustomed to the food pyramid as a way to help teach them which foods are better for them and which deserve more attention. The problem with the pyramid, though, has been a complicated one. Too many business interests originally influenced the construction of the pyramid and emphasis was less about healthy eating and more about promoting a certain type of food. Today the Healthy Eating Plate replaces the food pyramid structure for a number of reasons. First, the research conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health was far more substantive than anything the government relied on. Second, there were a number of flaws contained within the pyramid format that didn’t account for actual science and nutrition. In order to truly understand the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate, we need to first understand the underlying concept. Modern Diets Walk into any ...

Paleo Diet for Athletes

Paleo Diet for Athletes – A Fitness Lesson from Our Ancestors Paleo diet for athletes has become a popular term in the  sports and fitness world these days. If you haven’t heard of it yet, you must be living in the Stone Age. Well, you wish! Incidentally, that is exactly what Paleo diet is all about. Paleo Diet – Back to the Basics While human lifestyle has tremendously evolved since the Palaeolithic era, our diet, unfortunately, has degraded badly. Even the most health conscious among us somehow consumes unhealthy calories, fatal fat, and other dangerous elements through processed food products. Such food has less nutritional value and more health risks. Paleo diet is about imitating the diet and eating habits of our Palaeolithic ancestors. For starters, Paleo is about consuming a lot of proteins, healthy amounts of carbs, and good fats and not to mention loads of raw fruits and vegetables. We are talking about the diet that precedes agriculture. This diet is based on food that has always been available for us to enjoy. The benefits of such a diet  are now hailed by numerous nutritionists and fitness experts. Athletes and trainers, however, seem to be the prime prosecutors of Paleo Diet. That is ...

The Dukan Diet Plan For Healthy Weight Loss

 The Dukan Diet Plan. Understanding the Dukan Diet plan can help you lose weight, feel better, have more energy, and live a better life. If you have never heard of the Dukan diet  then its time you were introduced to it The Dukan Diet Plan, has been a best-seller in France for the better part of five years, but it has actually been around for more than a decade. French physician, Pierre Dukan created this diet plan with the intention of assisting obese people in the battle to lose weight. For many years, this plan worked as it was designed, but few people outside of France knew anything about it. That is until some famous people, such as Jennifer Lopez and Giselle Bundchen took to it and the world discovered that it had already helped more than 5 million people. There have been so many diet plans introduced to the world that it’s difficult to take a new one seriously. After all, fads come and go, so what makes understanding the Dukan Diet plan a good idea? Probably the way it’s designed and the Dukan Diet  food list. Four Phases The diet plan is based on four phases. It’s not about counting calories or weighing ...

Antioxidant Rich Foods

What is an Antioxidant? What do they do? What foods contain Antioxidants  An antioxidant is a molecule that stops or limits oxidation (damage caused by oxygen) to other molecules. This process of oxidation will result in the production of free radicals which can in turn damage cells and tissues and accelerate ageing . Oxidative damage is  implicated in many of the chronic illnesses we see today. At any one time there are millions of chemical reactions occurring in the body and each process, whether it be  an enzyme reaction or reaction within the mitochondria  (energy producing parts of the cells) will  result in the production of  free radicals. however if we have enough antioxidants then the damage to surrounding tissues will be minimal. Humans derive the majority of their antioxidants from food. With the extra stresses upon us from toxicity, electromagnetic pollution, chemicals and even excess exercise etc, the requirement for them is increased, therefore the more  foods  Rich  in Antioxidants  we  can eat  makes a huge difference to our overall health and how we are ageing. It is often helpful to supplement with a good quality antioxidant to help bridge the gap between our body requirements and what we can get from our diet. Foods ...

Carbohydrates Function

How do carbohydrates function? Very Interesting! But before we talk about carbohydrates function  let us first  talk a little about carbohydrates themselves. Carbohydrates form a major part of our  food source, they  help in generating energy and building body strength. Other than proteins and fats, carbohydrates are the other macronutrients necessary for the body. Carbohydrates can be consumed in different forms like fibers, sugar, etc. Carbohydrates are something  we consume every day but they are  not  the only thing that provides  energy to the body, but it's believed they are the most efficient. Production of glucose and sucrose is one of the main processes of carbohydrate function  These sugars are in turn absorbed by the body to produce energy with very little effort. Research into carbohydrates  function has found that there are two different kinds of carbohydrates - simple and complex carbohydrates. Foods which can be digested by the body quickly are called simple carbohydrates while complex carbohydrates are those which take longer to digest. Simple carbohydrates are also called bad carbohydrates as the amount of essential vitamins and nutrients provided by some of these carbohydrates is comparatively less when compared to complex carbohydrates. On the other hand, the body takes a ...

Low Carb Diet Plans

Before talking about Low Carb Diet Plans, let us start with the Word “Diet” actually refers to what a person eats or drinks during the course of a day and our body weight is the result of what and how much we eat and drink. Therefore, for maintaining a healthy body and to look good we must follow a proper Nutrition Plan. For a diet to be ideal, it must be nutritionally balanced, i.e., it must include wide variety of foods with enough calories and nutrients. And a Diet Plan should be easy to follow so that one can maintain its consistency, following it throughout their life. Nutrition plays a major role in your health and wellbeing As we all know that negligent and mismanaged eating habits lead to the health problem called Obesity, people are affected with it globally. It is the major cause for diseases like diabetes, heart attack, different types of cancer, osteoarthritis etc. Hence, a suitable diet plan will play a vital role to escape from Obesity. Low carbohydrate or Low Carb Diets is a diet with less carbohydrate and with an increased proportion of protein and fat. It is recommended for people who are obese and diabetic, with ...

Soluble Fiber

All You Need To Know About Soluble Fiber We all know that fiber is one of the more essential nutrients that you can get for your body. Roughly speaking, fibers are the indigestible contents found in plants. It is mainly responsible for cleaning up your intestines, preventing different digestive ailments from indigestion to cancers. But how well do you know your fiber? There are 2 types of fiber: insoluble fiber and soluble fiber. They act in different ways. While insoluble fiber is termed as metabolically inert, its soluble counterpart is known to cause fermentation in the intestine. In this article, we are going to focus on soluble fiber, its origins, its health benefits, and where you can actually find it. As a rule, soluble fiber acts by changing the nature of the contents of the digestive system, opening it up for fermentation. How is it possible? Fibers absorb water on the gastrointestinal tract, providing the perfect scenario for the initiation of fermentation. In contrast, while insoluble fiber also absorbs water while traveling along the gastrointestinal tract, what it only does is to create bulk, initiating defecation. While the action of insoluble fiber has its benefits, it is largely considered that soluble fiber ...

Low Carb

How To Eat Low Carb Low carb eating has been a fixture now for a number of years and, for many people it creates a vision of deprivation and possible ill health. After all, some seemingly essential foods are ‘cut out’ by anyone who follows this diet and this, in itself, seems less than healthy. Actually, this is very far from the truth. Low carb diets, personified by the Atkins Diet, the South Beach diet, the Protein Power diet and the Sugar Busters diet, do actually contain some carbohydrates, or carbs for short, especially in the maintenance phases. What is a low carb diet? The best way I can explain this is to look at the Atkins diet, a diet which is approached in 4 phases. Before explaining what happens in each of the 4 phases, I will detail what foods can be eaten in the diet. Actually, there is quite a lot of choices, the main restriction being the amount of carbs that are eaten. All fish, fowl, shellfish, meat and eggs are permitted but no cured meat like ham is allowed. Anyone following the diet needs to avoid any meat with additives in it such as meatloaf and breaded food. Oysters and mussels ...