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Nutrition and health

By Babatunde Ayo-vaughan
05 February 2017   |   3:22 am
Nutrition is about various food substances and their supplements and it is about giving the body the quality of the energy it needs to function effectively. The success in achieving this is what is known as good health.

Food is essential to repair and replace cells that are deteriorating in the body including those affecting the brain and mind functions. As I was pointing out in the last essay those who know how to put the right kind of food into their alimentary system are those who have the knowledge of the preventive approach to the issue of health.

They know that the right kind of nutritional consumption keeps disease away as much as possible from our body. As I had said before the basis of nutrition is food.

But through the avenue of what we call food there are other elements that require adequate attention in discussion if we truly want to understand what it involves to have a healthy body. In this respect it could be said that food is in the mould of a complex rich organic matter which human beings take in order to derive energy and save other nutrients and substances that are essential for living and growth.

When the individual in his youth is beginning to develop, his body requires raw materials to manufacture new tissues. When he gets into adulthood, the body must also have the mechanism to continue to repair its existing structures.

The elements for growth and repair are supplied by what in the scientific world is called proteins.Proteins are essentially tissue building substances which are found in cereals, meat, eggs and milk.

Proteins are composed of amino-acids and can be manufactured in the body if they are not available in the diet. Proteins are an essential part of all body issues that includes the muscles, cartilage, bones and the skin. Proteins are also known to serve specialized functions. for example one group of protein molecules called antibodies circulate in the blood and they are in the blood for the purpose of intercepting bacterial invaders that might be harmful to the body.

It is however significant to note that protein can also be used as a source of energy for the body even though carbohydrates are regarded as the source of principal energy yielding food. Carbohydrates consist of starches and sugars. The ultimate source of the energy derived for our body is the sunlight. Carbohydrates are manufactured by green plants.

The link between the sunlight and the carbohydrates that bring energy into our body is located in green plants. Carbohydrates are manufactured by green plants with the combination of carbon dioxide and water using the energy of sunlight as catalyst.

The simpler carbohydrates are sugars such as sucrose – the type you find in sugar cane and lactose the type you find in milk sugar. Complex carbohydrates are found in starches.

The new universal thinking nowadays is that if we want to effectively address the issue of health to control the problematic dimension it is assuming, it is believed that attention should be more focused on the preventive approach to the menace of health rather than the curative approach we are all used to and in our effort to achieve this, leading health institutions including the World Health Organization (WHO) have come to the firm belief that we should all be particularly interested in the nature of what we feed our body.

It is like everybody should take more than passing interest in what constitute our nutritional intake. For sometime now this column has decided to play its part in that respect. Our body essentially is like a machine and virtually all machines rely in some kind of energy peculiar to their needs to function properly.

Nutrition is about various food substances and their supplements and it is about giving the body the quality of the energy it needs to function effectively. The success in achieving this is what is known as good health. As I had told you previously although what nutritionally is known as protein could also be a source of energy for the human body, Carbohydrates are regarded as the source of principal energy yielding food for the body.

Carbohydrates are manufactured by green plants with the combination of carbon dioxide and water using the energy of sunlight as catalyst.

The simpler carbohydrates are sugars such as sucrose such as we get in sugarcane and lactose such as we get in milk sugar. Complex carbohydrates are found in starchy food such as rice, spaghetti, bread and potatoes.

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