Nutrients in food
When talking about food, you’ll often hear people refer to the word nutrients. Is the food full of nutrients? Is it a nutrient-rich food? Are you getting your recommended daily serves of nutrients?
What are nutrients and why are they good for you?
Nutrients are the substances in food that our bodies process to enable it to function. Your nutrient requirements are influenced by factors including your age, growth stage and activity. Nutrients are so small that they can’t be seen by the naked eye.
Nutrients can generally be broken onto two categories:
macronutrients – carbohydrates, protein, fats;
and
micronutrients – vitamins and minerals such as calcium, iron, vitamin C.
Nowadays there are many nutrient poor foods available – this means they don’t contain much nutrition that your body needs to function. Rather, the food is full of energy (kilojoules) but it’s not nutritional. This means that the food will provide your body with energy (kilojoules) so you won’t feel hungry, but it’s void of other essential nutrients that your body needs to function.