Food And Nutrition: Food And Its Functions

Introduction

In the third chapter of Shreemat Bhagwat Geeta, there is a line ‘Anant Bhavati Bhootanee‘, which means ‘The Human Being Is Made From Food‘. This is a statement of fact. Everything in your body was once in the food you ate. The single cell from which you were conceived in your mother’s womb, to your present size, food has become YOU. This process continues as long as you live.

Your brain, muscles, blood, and bones are all made from the food you eat. Food gives you energy and stamina for work. It also gives you emotional stability and security. And don’t forget, the right kind and amount of food give you the appearance and feeling of radiant good health. This is the result of good nutrition.

Scientists are working constantly to increase our knowledge about food and nutrition, and to find ways to apply this knowledge in choosing the right foods, so that our body is well nourished.

Perhaps you are thinking how can you do this? This post will tell you how to do it. Follow it carefully and confidently and you will not only be well-fed but also well-nourished.

 

Food And Its Functions

Let us understand some of the terms that are used in this post. Food, according to the dictionary, is that which nourishes the body. Food may also be defined as anything we eat or drink to meet the body’s needs for energy, bodybuilding, repair, and protection. As we know that food is the raw material from which our body is made.

Let us now get acquainted with the major functions of food. As you know when you are hungry, food not only removes hunger but gives you a feeling of satisfaction and renewed strength. But that is not all. You share food to express happiness, friendship, and love. Thus food has many functions in our lives. If you understand these functions, you will appreciate how they affect our food intake.

 

• Physiological Functions

As you know, the food you eat becomes you. So the most important function of food is to build your body. You have experienced this function in your own life. You may have weighed 2.5 – 3.2 kg at birth and now weigh 45 to 60 kg. This growth is the result of the food you ate from birth to adulthood. Now that you are an adult, the food you eat helps to maintain and renew worn-out cells of your body.

Secondly, food provides the energy, your body needs for all its activities, voluntary, and involuntary. You know that even when you sleep, some of your body’s activities continue, e.g., breathing, heartbeat, digestion, absorption of food, etc. These keep you body going without any effort on your part and are called involuntary activities. But the work you do, such as sweeping the floor, or cooking, or working at the desk, or playing a game of badminton, is called voluntary activity. The amount of energy you need depends on the kind of activity and the time you spend doing it.

The third function of food is to regulate all the activities of the body and protect it from infections. Examples of some of the activities which regulate the body are given below.

• Beating of your heart.
• Maintenance of your body temperature.
• Muscle contraction.
• Removal of waste from your body, etc.

Apart from these, food also helps to protect the body from various infections.

 

• Psychological Functions

In addition of meeting your physical needs, your food also satisfies certain emotional needs. These include a feeling of security, love, and attention. You feel secure when familiar foods are served. When a child comes home from school the mother knows that he/she is hungry and serves tiffin. Thus she expresses her love and attention here. As you realize our attachment to our mother’s cooking is rooted in these emotions.

When you share your lunch with a colleague, you express acceptance and friendship. If you are amongst friends, you try unfamiliar foods and enlarge your food experience. These are some of the positive aspects of food acceptance.

But there are occasions when you are hungry but are unable to eat even a nutritious meal because the foods are unfamiliar or you are unhappy or lonely.

You need to understand these aspects about food acceptance, so that when you plan meals, you will not only think of nutrition, but also the persons for whom you plan.

 

• Socio-Cultural Functions

You know how important food is in our social and cultural life. You serve refreshments at meetings and seminars or to visitors to create a relaxed atmosphere for an exchange of ideas. In most of our festivals and celebrations, we have feasts, which bring the family and friends together. Many times we use food as an expression of happiness. For example, you distribute Pedhas (Sweets) when you pass examinations, Laddus (Sweets) are served in marriage feasts, Cakes at Christmas, and birthdays. In religious functions, you make special preparations to distribute Prasad. Thus food helps to strengthen our social and cultural ties.

 

Nutrients, Nutrition, And Nutritional Status

The food you eat consists of a number of chemical substances. These are known as nutrients “Water, Proteins, Minerals, Carbohydrates, Fats, Vitamins”. You will be interested to know that the nutrients carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, and vitamins represent a group or a class made up of many members. Your body uses these nutrients to produce thousands of substances, which are necessary for our life, as well as for your physical and mental fitness. Please do not worry about having to remember each one of these. But you will certainly appreciate the need to choose your foods wisely, since all essential nutrients need to be supplied by food to our bodies.

As you are already aware that Nutrition is a process by which the body assimilates foods to meet its physiological needs. The state of the body resulting from the kinds and amounts of food supplied to it is termed as nutritional status.

 

• Normal Nutrition

You can say your nutritional status is normal, if you get all the essential nutrients in the correct amount and proportion to meet your body’s needs. It also implies that your body has been able to utilize these nutrients in such a manner as to maintain you in good health. As you are aware, the word ‘Health’ refers to the state of your body. Good health means that you are not only free from disease, but that you enjoy physical, mental, and emotional fitness

 

• Malnutrition

You have already understood the term nutritional status. The prefix ‘Mal’ means that which is not desirable. Malnutrition stands for an undesirable kind of nutrition, which results in ill health. It may be caused by too little, too much, or an imbalance of nutrients in the diet. When there is an insufficient supply of essential nutrients, undernutrition occurs. For example, when small children do not get sufficient food, they are undernourished. You may have seen such children, who are small for their age or are thin and weak.

If the intake of nutrients is in excess of body needs, we refer to this state as overnutrition. If you observe people, you may find some who are fat. People who habitually take more food then they need deposit the excess food in the form of fat. This excess body fat thus stored, is a burden to the body and affects its function. As you may have realized malnutrition includes both undernutrition and overnutrition.

The word diet needs to be understood clearly, for it is a noun as well as a verb. All that you eat and drink is your diet. Thus the word diet, used as a noun, means food intake. But when you say that you are on a diet or you are dieting, it means you eat prescribed kinds of foods.

 

• Functions Of Nutrients

As you know each day we use some foods such as wheat, rice, dal, vegetables, fruits, milk, eggs, fish, meat, sugar, oils, etc. These different foods are made up of nutrients mentioned earlier. Let us get to know the functions of these nutrients in our bodies.

Water: Our body contains approximately 60-65 percent water. Thus you will realize it is an essential part of our body structure. As you know, water is a universal solvent. It carries food into the body, helps in the digestion and absorption of food, and ensures the elimination of waste from the body. Water helps to regulate body temperature. It acts as a lubricant in the mobile parts of our body, such as joints, and prevents friction. You need about 5 to 6 glasses of water each day. You get it from the water you drink and beverages such as tea, coffee, etc.

Carbohydrates: You get about 70-80 percent of your energy from carbohydrates. The energy content of foods is expressed in calories. One gram of carbohydrate provides four calories. If you take these in excess of your body’s need, the unused part is stored as glycogen in the muscle or converted to fat and stored for later use. The main carbohydrates in our diet are starches found in cereals, dals, tubers, sugar from sugarcane, and fruits. Cereals and dals also provide a large part of the proteins, some minerals, and vitamins.

Proteins: As you know proteins are present in all living tissues both plants and animals. Next to water, protein is the most abundant component of our body. About a sixth of our body weight is protein. Thus you will realize that the main function of protein is the building of new tissues, and the maintenance and repair of those already built. Further, a number of regulatory and protective substances [enzymes, antibodies, hormones] in the body are made from proteins.

You get about 8 to 15 percent of your total energy from proteins. Energy supply is thus a secondary function of your dietary proteins. Each gram of protein gives four calories of energy to your body. Protein is present in vegetables and animal sources. Among the former, dals, pulses, nuts, and soya beans are good sources of protein. Among the latter, milk, fish, egg, meat, chicken, and liver are rich sources. Paneer [channa] and khoa [made from milk] are also good sources of protein.

Fats: In India, about 10 to 30 percent of the energy needs are met from oils and fats. One gram of oil or fat gives nine calories of energy to the body. Please remember that fats and oils are concentrated sources of energy. You need fats as a medium for the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. You need essential fatty acids, which vegetable oils provide. The oil you use in seasoning, the ghee or butter used as a spread, and the fat in eggs and meat, are the major sources of fats in our diet. The oilseeds and nuts you use in food preparations also contribute some fat. Remember if you take more energy than your body needs, in any form, be it fats, carbohydrates or proteins, it is stored in your body as fat.

Minerals: Our bones and teeth need minerals for their formation and maintenance. Iron is needed for the formation of the red pigment in the blood. Minerals have an important role in the regulation of a number of body processes, e.g. muscle contraction, nerve stimulation, respiration, etc. we get the minerals that we need from a variety of foods. For example, we get calcium from milk and leafy vegetables, iron from leafy vegetables, dals and eggs, sodium from salt, and other foods.

Vitamin: We need many different vitamins, for example, vitamin A, B-complex, C, D, etc. Our body needs these to grow and develop, to help our eyes, nerves, and skin to remain healthy, and to protect us from infections. We need very small amounts of these vitamins. We get these from a variety of foods. Where do we get these vitamins? From leafy vegetables, carrots, amla, guava, mosumbi, oranges, dals, whole-grain cereals, and eggs.

 

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