Optimum nutrition remains an elusive goal because the demands of the body change from minute to minute based on physical activity, and because medical science does not have a definitive set of comprehensive nutritional requirements for every human genetic variations. The schedule for eating can be fairly flexible because the body is able to store nutrients for later use, but prolonged famines followed by episodes of gorging are not optimal. For the body to thrive, it is better if the nutrients are available in moderate amounts on regular schedules.
Balance diet is a mixed diet made of a combination of appropriate foodstuffs from food groups , which can provide all the nutrients in adequate amounts to fulfill the body needs. In addition, it provides additional amounts of some nutrients which are stored in the body and can melt the requirements of the body during short period of leanness. The factors affecting the nutritional requirements of an individual depends upon its age, sex, body size, physiological conditions, climate, physical activities which includes sedentary, moderate, heavy workers. Similarly for women who are pregnant or lactating requirements of their nutrition increases by double as they are providing nutrients to the infant as well. Indian Council of medical Research has designed recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for various age-groups according to their nutritional requirements that depend upon factors.
Lack of proper nutrition affects the health badly and is termed as Malnutrition, which can be defined as a pathological state resulting from a relative or absolute deficiency or excess of one or more of essential nutrients, which can manifest into over nutrition and under nutrition. Over-nutrition means the diet that provides excess of nutrients than their adequate amounts required by the body thus making the diet imbalanced. Diets and excessive calories and improper balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates lead to Obesity and may eventually result in metabolic syndrome – a combination of medical disorders that occur together (Diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, High blood pressure). Comparatively Under-nutrition is the diet that does not provide the nutrients required by the body in sufficient amounts to meet the requirements i.e. deficient in amount as well as quality. Inadequate diets can result in malnutrition and dietary deficiency diseases such as rickets, goitre, anaemia, scurvy, etc. Malnutrition is the primary cause of immune-deficiency worldwide, with infants, children, adolescents and elderly most affected.
Optimum nutrition seeks to balance dietary nutrients to avoid diseases caused by deficiencies or excesses. The food that you eat should have the proper proportion of nutrient for your current stage of life. Women of reproductive age for example, need more iron than post menopausal women. Optimum nutrition should provide the right quantities of protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals, fibre and pro-biotic bacteria to maintain a healthy body and to sustain the desired level of activity for best quality of life giving us a balanced food value.
The interaction between the nutrition and infection is synergistic, i.e malnutrition can make a person more susceptible to infection and infection also contributes to malnutrition which causes vicious cycle.
Having a healthy diet is sometimes easier said than done. It is tempting to turn to less healthy food choices because they might be easy to get or prepare, or they satisfy a craving. Between family and work or school, you are probably balancing a hundred things at once. Taking time to buy the ingredients for and cooking a healthy meal sometimes falls last on your list. But you should know that it isn’t hard to make simple changes to improve your diet. And you can make sense of the mounds of nutrition information out there. A little learning and planning can help you find a diet to fit your lifestyle, and maybe you can have some fun in the process!
