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NUTRITION & DIETETICS

Each one of us wants to maintain good health. Our concern for health has become all the more important because of the adverse impact of the growing risks from polluted environment, be it at home or at our place of work. It matters a lot what we eat or drink. To regulate one's eating habits in proper way and to protect one's health, knowledge about the nutritional values of what we consume and in what quantity has become all the more necessary.

An understanding of the role of food in our lives help us at all stages of life. Nutrition refers to the processes by which living organisms find and extract from food what they need for energy and maintenance, for growth, production and the repair of body tissue. The quality of our life depends upon the quality of what they eat. A plentiful and nutritious diet is a prerequisite for good health. Many major diseases around the world are linked to inappropriate eating habits or inadequate food intake.

The study of nutrition enable us to understand the components of the foods that we eat and how these affect us. It further enables us to know about the essential components, which ones are harmful, how much quantity is enough, etc. How are foods digested and absorbed? How do they react inside our bodies? What are the consequences of these actions and reactions? How can we improve our health or productivity? How can we change the course of disease by altering our diet-as individuals or as a group. These and similar critical questions make the study of nutrition an important, even essential, part of the study of medicine, dentistry, veterinary science, agriculture, and public health. The wide range of professionals and practitioners in these fields need to know what can or cannot, what should or should not be in our diets and the diets of the animals in our care. To be precise, we must know what we must eat and what we must avoid particularly in different circumstances like when one falls sick or suffers from a particular disease.

The study of nutritian aims at understanding of an organism's energy requirements and what effects that food intake or diet has upon the individual. Dietetics is concerned with human beings in particular. It studies the practical means by which we can use information on diet and energy needs to improve our health. Here comes the role of a nutritionist and a dietitian. A dietitian tells us how to cook food differently to suit the healthy or the sick people. Dietitians are especially concerned with assisting people in all their special circumstances in life- the young, the elderly, the sick, nursing mothers, active sports people and so on. In many diseases, what a particular patient eats is very crucial. A dietitian knows the therapeutic value of diets.

Their services are required by the hospitals, processed food industry, food laboratories etc. They work in residential schools, colleges, canteens and hostels to plan and supervise the preparation of meals to be served to the inmates. They also undertake other administrative functions for successful running and maintaining these canteens or hostels by ensuring purchase and supply of goods, equipment, within the budgetary constraints imposed for the purpose and ensuring safety measures as well.

They are basically employed in hospitality industry, hospitals and in the food processing/manufacturing industry, pharmaceutical companies, health and fitness clubs, catering departments of industrial houses, schools etc.

The field of study suits those well who are interested in the study of diets, have suitable aptitude in science, those who love to work in a group or team, and have ability to interact and communicate with different people and preferably have adequate knowledge of their diet patterns.

Some of the related fields of study are: fundamental and applied biology,, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, microbiology, molecular biology, genetics and pathology. Food science and technology are also closely linked to nutrition. All biological disciplines must at some stage take into account the fact that the organisms with which they are concerned are profoundly affected by the quality and quantity of what they eat.