nutrients

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Nutrients represent chemical compounds that living organisms use for sustenance and growth, as well as substances that are required in various metabolic processes, but that organisms cannot create on their own, and therefore must obtain from the environment. Nutrients can be used as fuel, to enable cellular respiration, energy production and expenditure, as well as to repair tissues, and maintain all bodily processes within functional parameters. All life forms require nutrients, although the mechanisms of obtaining them differ among animals and plants, in that animals synthesize nutrients through their digestive systems, while plants are able to absorb them directly from the soil.

Nutrition is a closely related term which refers to the supply of nutrients that organisms need to live and thrive. Particularly when applied to humans, nutrition is a field of interest in which dieticians and medical professionals look at ways to optimize diets in a manner that is most beneficial to human life. In simple terms, the science of nutrition teaches us how to eat healthy, improve our physical and mental condition and extend life-span. Clinical nutritionists may focus primarily on the role of nutrition in the prevention, remedy or management of chronic illnesses (including hereditary and degenerative disease), with various academic programs endorsing research in this area.

Dieticians can also draft out special eating plans which restrict the consumption of certain foods while promoting the consumption of other foods, typically centered around evidence-based claims that some types of foods may be more healthful than others. As a consequence of this endeavor to create an optimal diet, various dieting and living styles have emerged over the years, some of the more popular being the Mediterranean diet, the Okinawa diet, and the raw food diet. The Mediterranean diet is based on traditional Italian and Greek cuisine, while the Okinawa diet is a calorie-restrictive regime that emphasizes on the consumption of sweet potatoes.

The raw food diet promotes the consumption of wholesome, uncooked, organic foods, primarily of plant origin, although some raw foodists may include raw dairy products and meat into their eating plans. This diet is founded on the belief that heating foods to a temperature of more than 118 degrees Fahrenheit will result in the partial destruction of precious nutrients and enzymes that the body needs to stay healthy. Raw food proponents also claim that after years of consuming highly processed foods, the body has accumulated toxins that prevent the full absorption of nutrients found in uncooked foods. Consequently, a common practice is to undergo a detoxification regime that can purportedly aid with the elimination of such toxins.

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