ENORMOUS IMPORTANCE OF GOOD NUTRITION

Nutrition can be defined as science of food, the nutrients therein, its digestion, absorption, utilization and metabolism in relation to health and diseases. Nutrition focuses on how diseases conditions and problems can be prevented or lessened with a healthy diet. It also involves identifying how certain diseases, conditions or problems may de caused by dietary factors such as poor diet (malnutrition), food allergies, and metabolic diseases.
Good nutrition means getting the calories needed for energy and nutrients needed for proper growth. The keys to good nutrition are variety,balance and moderation .It also should be noted that nutritional adequacy is a pre requisite for good health and very crucial to achievement of eight Millenium Development Goals.
Apart from nutrients in food, there are also anti nutrients (e.g.phytochemicals and antioxidants) which act as anti-inflammatory agentswhich protects the body from aging and damage that comes from sun,pollution and smoke.
Additionally,good maternal nutrition is important for the health and reproductive performance of women and the health,survival and development of their children.Insufficient attention over time has been given to the extent,causes,and consequences of malnutrition in women.Undernutrition begins with the mother and can be passed down to the child during pregnancy.Adequate nutrition before and during pregnancy has greater potential for a long term health impact than it does at any other time and it is well known that nutritional intervention focused on women’s health during the reproductive stage helps to achieve adequate newborn nutritional status and is reflected in childhood health and nutritional conditions.Undernourished children normally have low cognition which leads to impaired educational performance in childhood and reduced economic productivity in adulthood.
Since it is evidenced that reducing malnutrition has more impact than any other intervention in human development,thus the need for advocates to help promote the case of good nutrition is very pertinent