The secret to why nutrition is essential for people is in the word itself – nutrition comes from nutrients. Nutrients are the good things that we get through food which we need to nourish and nurture ourselves, and to be happy and healthy people.

In scientific terms, nutrition is the supply of food that we need as an organism to feed our cells and keep them alive. We can get nutrients from products such as vitamin supplements, however, when we talk about nutrition we mostly mean the nutrients we get from food..

Without nutrition, we grow weak, sick and at the very worst can even die. We miss developmental milestones and can’t put our bodies through the daily mental and physical tasks that we need them to. We aren’t able to grow and may also be unable to reproduce.

Nutrients are the fuel we need to enable the body to break down food and then put this to use in the body to repair and build cells and tissue, which is basically our metabolism.

The healthy human body needs seven different kinds of nutrients to thrive; proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, fibre and water. Macronutrients are the ones we need lots of, while with micronutrients (the vitamins and minerals) we can get by with a bit less.