Healthy Nutrition: A Chemistry View Point Chemistry

¶ … healthy Nutrition: A Chemistry View Point

Chemistry is a branch of sciences that deals with the compositions of matter and helps in identifying the substances that form matter. Living as well as non-living bodies are formed with substances. These substances differ in their composition, nature, properties, and reactions with other substances. There is a vital role of chemicals and chemistry in everyday life of human beings. The impacts of chemical substances on living beings can also be divided into direct and indirect categories. The impact of environmental substances is indirect in nature whereas direct impacts are chemical composition of food, nutrition, vitamins, and physical activity.

The following sections are focused on detailed review of relevance for chemistry and chemicals on healthy eating habits, nutrition, and vitamins. The significant role of physical activity and exercising is also elaborated in the sections below. There are significant benefits of healthy diet and exercise. However it is also important to highlight the impact of unhealthy diet and unhealthy nutrition. It is concluded that instable diet with inappropriate nutrition effects human well-being. The changed life style along with extensive use of chemicals in daily life has affected urban as well as rural life styles.

Effects of healthy eating:

The primary source of body energy is diet that is required to perform normal functioning. The food contains a number of chemical and biological properties. The digestion process in human body performs its function to transform various dietary components of food from its original form to a number of chemical components. The impact of food on actual digestion process cannot be undermined. It also requires energy to breakdown food substances into usable energy. Various enzymes and body chemicals are required to transform food into energy. A healthy diet has numerous healthy effects on human body including disease resistance, appropriate energy balance, and normal functioning of all body organs (Papadopolus, 2008).

Healthy diet has a direct impact on body performance as well as overall well being of a human being. The composition of a healthy diet can be understood in relation to purity, simplicity, and intake into most natural form. The introduction of chemical and biological advancements in poultry, agriculture has influenced on the usable and healthy food components of food. It is essential to take healthy diet and less chemically contaminated foods. The preparation process of foods also requires certain level of chemical additions as a result it also impacts on overall performance of food digestion.

Nutrition:

The nutritious value of food is dependent on multiple factors including the quality, quantity, preparation process, and consumption. The chemistry of nutrition can also be defined in terms of the food composition (Willett, 2012).The food is composed of various chemical substances includes carbohydrates, proteins, and minerals. These nutrients are chemically composed and require a biochemical process for its conversion into energy. The energy produced by the process is late consumed by various parts of the human body. The breaking down of food into energy essentially requires a chemical process as certain number of food parts are decomposed to form other matters.

The significance of nutrition in terms of performing health related functions is defined in terms of disease prevention and health promotion. The nutrition is an important subject of various science disciplines. Its important parts are physiology, anatomy, chemistry, and biology. The chemical importance of nutrition is also investigated through application of numerous studies conducted to highlight influence of chemistry in nutrition. The consumption of fats, oils, and fatty acids reduces the nutrient process and as a result the nutritious value of food is also lowered.

Vitamins:

Vitamins are also a significant part of diet and they are also required for normal functioning of body. The vitamins are of different types with their relevance to body function. The Vitamins also play a significant role in human body well-being, disease protection, and normal functioning. There are a number of natural foods that contain the required amounts of vitamins for body. The digestion process extracts the valuable parts from food and converts them into energy through a biological and chemical process of digestion.

The important foods containing Vitamin C are citrus fruits and vegetables, Vitamin D is considered essential for bones and it is an integral part of milk. Numerous other vitamins are also present in food according to their chemical composition. It is important to note that chemicals have a tendency of reaction if combined with other substances. Hence vitamins also have a tendency of chemical reaction i.e. with tin, and nickel. The tendency of vitamins with water solubility and interaction with other chemicals performs a vital role in metabolism process. A number of case control studies confirm the tendency of reaction and interaction of vitamins.

Exercise:

A healthy human being requires an appropriate balance of physical, physiological, and mental capabilities in order to perform its natural functions (Sladyk & O'Sullivan, 2010).There is a huge difference in urban and rural life styles as well as the developments of technology and genetic modification in foods has also influenced human health. Physical activity including exercising is essential for normal and healthy function of body. The food quality alone cannot improve overall health hence it is required to maintain a balanced life style to achieve batter results in terms of health and disease prevention. The immunity function of human body is also improved with exercise.

Effects of unhealthy eating:

The effects of unhealthy food intake can result into instigating various health related issues including unbalanced physical as well as psychological health of a human being. The imbalance in diet can result into imbalance of essential chemicals required to maintain a healthy living. Food intake has a significant role to play in human well-being. The eating habits including excessive intake of processed food, high fat content in diet and binge eating has a direct impact on human health life. There a number of diseases including obesity, increased body weight, and coronary problems can rise due to unbalanced diet.

Unhealthy Nutrition:

Healthy nutrition is required to maintain a balanced diet for individuals. It is also important that the individuals maintain proper diet in terms of taking all essential food components required to provide energy and increase quality of life. The balanced diet includes appropriate amount of carbohydrates, fibers, portions, minerals, and vitamins. The excessive intake of one ingredient while ignoring the other essentials causes serious issues in nutrition of foods. A number of chemicals are required to digest food and maintain required nutrition.

Healthy life style should emphasize on food intake based on the nutritious requirements of body. The effects of inappropriate nutrition in children can affect their physical development and growth. All age groups have different nutritious requirements and a different capacity to absorb foods. Hence it is essential to intake appropriate amount and quality of food according to the relevant age requirements. The low nutritious foods have a direct impact on physical well-being of an individual and it can also result into several health issues immediately as well as in the later life.