Nutrition and Dietetics
Nutrition and Dietetics Nutrition and dietetics is a scientific discipline that studies how we should consume food and how we can improve our health by making better dietary choices.
This field is concerned with both health and the food industry. Nutrition and dietetics involve the application of knowledge about food and nutrition to improve health, prevent or minimize diseases. The field of nutrition and dietetics conducts scientific studies on the application of diets in health and disease, food preparation, and food intake.
Nutrition explores the metabolic and physiological roles of nutrients in the body. Dietetics deals with the treatment of nutrition-related diseases and the prevention of disease complications (e.g., diabetes, gout, chronic kidney diseases, weakness, obesity, etc.).
The foundation of health is adequate and balanced nutrition. “Adequate and balanced nutrition” is defined as the adequate intake of nutrients necessary for body growth, tissue regeneration, and functioning, as well as their proper utilization in the body, forming the basis of health.
Today, inadequate and unbalanced nutrition underlies many chronic diseases, which are a major public health problem leading to premature deaths.
To achieve the expected quality of life during globalization, it is necessary to increase the nutritional awareness of all individuals and societies and to transform healthy eating into a lifestyle. Furthermore, to achieve healthy nutrition, it is essential to adopt physical activity habits and prevent alcohol and tobacco use.
Nutritional problems that impair quality of life in society, such as weakness, anemia due to iron deficiency, iodine deficiency diseases, vitamin D deficiencies, dental caries, and obesity, can be minimized or prevented. Similarly, the prevention of nutrition-related chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, certain types of cancer, diabetes, and osteoporosis, can only be achieved by accessing safe food and consuming these foods in an adequate and balanced manner.
