Nutrition: Definition, Benefits, & Facts​

By Charlie Huntington, M.A., Ph.D. Candidate
​Reviewed by Tchiki Davis, M.A., Ph.D.
Nutrition is the act of giving our bodies the food they need to be healthy and well-functioning. We all know we should eat nutritious food, but what does science say about the benefits?​
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When I arrived at college and first looked around the dining hall with its massive range of choices, I knew the time had come to learn how to eat salads. Salad makings had never been in my house growing up, and I felt ambivalent about eating entire mouthfuls of vegetables at the same meal, but I knew I needed them. At first, I drowned everything in ranch dressing, as one does, but gradually I came to appreciate vegetables more and more, both inside and outside of salads.​
I think we all have an intuitive sense of what foods are healthy for us, even if we have developed habits that involve steering clear of those foods. Certainly, our bodies tell us when a food is nutritious; if I’ve gone too long without a salad, and then I have one, I feel my energy settling and my head clearing. But it is getting harder and harder these days to eat truly nutritious food. As food companies process what they sell us more and more, stripping away the nutritional content as they do so, the American diet becomes less and less healthy. So let’s return to the basics and look at why nutrition matters.
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What Is Nutrition? (A Definition)​

We can define a nutrient as any component of a food that, when consumed in appropriate amounts through eating, supports our physiological functioning (Hendrich et al., 1994). This can look like enhancing our ability to do the things we need to do or working to stop diseases from taking shape. For example, changing what we eat to emphasize different nutrients may reduce diabetic symptoms or risk of diabetes (Li & Heber, 2020), while eating more high-fiber foods can help us have smoother and more frequent bowel movements (De Vries et al., 2019).
 
Having defined nutrients, we can now define nutrition as the act of getting the necessary nutrients into our bodies so that we can function. Most of our nutrient intake comes from our diet, but nutrients are also taken in through water (which often contains helpful minerals) and sunlight (which supplies Vitamin D to our bodies). In fact, most cases of Vitamin D deficiency are related to not being out in the sun enough, not to deficiencies in one’s diet (Mead, 2008). Thus, nutrition includes all the activities we engage in that provide us with nutrients: primarily, eating, drinking, and being outside.

Why Is Nutrition Important?​

The nutrition we provide ourselves is vital in determining how well our minds and bodies function (Guenther et al., 2013) – I will say lots more about that in a moment. Nutrition is also important as a public health issue, however. Most Americans, although generally aware of which foods are nutritious and which are not (O’Brien & Davies, 2007), do not make deliberate choices to eat those foods. As a result of not eating what they know to be healthy, most Americans are not getting enough of a wide range of important nutrients (Micha et al., 2017). Furthermore, at least in America, access to nutrition is not equitably distributed. Simply put, people who have more resources have more access to nutritious food than people who are more disadvantaged.

This is the case for a variety of reasons. First, physical access to specific foods is not equal. Lower-income individuals and people of color are more likely to live in what are called food deserts – communities where healthy foods are harder to access because grocery stores are few and far between (Karpyn et al., 2019). Second, foods that are dense in energy, but not in nutrients, are cheaper to produce, often more shelf-stable, and are more readily available to these same communities that are in need of more nutritious foods (Darmon et al., 2004). Third, people who are short on resources are often short on time – a very valuable resource, indeed – so they are more likely to turn to foods that require no or little preparation (Drewnowski & Darmon, 2005). Unfortunately, these are usually highly processed foods that have lost most of their nutritional content while being processed.​

Nutrition & Food Taste

On top of all that, the energy-dense but not very nutritious foods that economically disadvantaged people are more likely to eat also happen to typically be delicious (Drewnowski & Darmon, 2005): think of the fast food, snacks, and desserts that probably catch your eye when you enter a rest stop on a road trip or a convenience store on your way home from work. It takes time, familiarity, access, and often more money to eat nutritiously, which is why higher-income individuals are more likely to do so (Drewnowski & Specter, 2004).​

These days, dozens of vegetables and fruits are available in almost every grocery store. We know the importance of good nutrition and where it comes from, so why don’t we make the “right” choices when we go grocery shopping? The explanation is nicely summarized in a book I read recently (Guyenet, 2017). First of all, we unconsciously gravitate to the most energy-dense and pleasurable eating experiences; our brains sense that this is the most convenient and efficient way to get much-needed energy to keep functioning, so they naturally drive us toward those foods. Second, food scientists and marketers know this, and they continually work to make foods even more palatable – at the cost of their nutritional content – and to sell us those foods. To summarize, the odds are stacked against us: the people selling us food, and our own brains, push us to make short-term choices (so quick and so tasty!) over long-term choices (more effort, but longer-lasting health).

Benefits of Good Nutrition

There is a ton of research attesting to the benefits of good nutrition. Here are just a few examples. First, getting good nutrition is related to lower rates of contracting or developing many diseases, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and osteoporosis (Guenther et al., 2013). Second, when people do go to the hospital for serious medical conditions, they are more likely to heal and experience a smoother and quicker recovery if they are getting adequate nutrition (Zaloga, 1999). Finally, good nutrition supports optimal functioning, not just avoiding and recovering from illness. For example, good nutrition is associated with better athletic performance among both elite and non-elite athletes (Thomas et al., 2016), as well as academic achievement (Pucher et al., 2013).​

Nutrition Facts

Getting the facts straight about nutrition is notoriously difficult. In my own lifetime, I think we have seesawed back and forth between “fat is good” and “fat is bad”, and this is just one example of how blanket statements about elements of nutrition are always changing and rarely accurate (since the truth is that eating enough healthy fats is an important aspect of good nutrition).
 
To take another example: are nutritional supplements helpful? It appears that they do increase the amount of nutrients in our bodies and that this is especially helpful for people with illnesses or clear nutritional deficiencies (Stratton & Elia, 2007), but at the same time, people already eating a comprehensive and healthy diet probably do not need to take a supplement as well. So while it may be very beneficial to take supplements to address specific deficiencies in our nutrient intake, especially to boost immune system functioning among the elderly (Chandra, 1997), it is not a requirement for healthy living.
 
The facts about nutrition are also obscured by our emotional responses to different aspects of nutrition. For example, one study found that people respond very differently to information about fat in a food product versus fiber in a food product (Garretson & Burton, 2000), which is likely because we have heard so many powerful and often conflicting messages about how much fat to eat. Marketing that talks up potential nutritional benefits in a food, such as emphasizing how a product is “fortified with minerals and vitamins”, can also make a sugary breakfast cereal seem more nutritious than it really is (Ikonen et al., 2020).​

Nutrition Labels

Back in 1990, the federal government passed the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, which required food companies to provide much more detailed information about the nutritional content of their products. It has been suggested that these labels have helped consumers make wiser choices over the years, saving billions of dollars in potential health-related costs (Silverglade, 1996).

However, subsequent research has shown that nutrition labels may be more effective for some consumers than others. Specifically, people with high motivation to eat well, people who are intentionally modifying their diets, and people with higher knowledge about nutrition in general, pay more attention to food labels (Miller & Cassady, 2012). Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, people who look at nutrition labels also apparently eat more vegetables, eat less sugar, and spend less time at fast-food restaurants (Christoph et al., 2018).

Nutrition Labels: Sugar

Let me pause briefly here to get on my soapbox for a moment. Nutrition labels are generally pretty good at showing us when foods have sugar added to them. Added sugar shows up in all kinds of processed foods, including foods you might not expect, like sliced bread, pasta sauce, and peanut butter. And our consumption of too much added sugar almost certainly contributes to all kinds of health issues (Micha et al., 2017). There is no need for many of these products to contain (this much) sugar.

One of the best things you can do for your health is to limit your intake of added sugar (Alam et al., 2022). Speaking from personal experience, removing added sugars from my diet has given me greater powers of concentration and a more stable mood and helped me maintain the body and healthy lifestyle that I want. You might be surprised how much the sugary foods you eat affect your functioning throughout the day. I’m glad to no longer be on the rollercoaster that was my life on sugar.​

Nutrition Coaching​

There is a lot of research coming out that suggests that meeting with somebody who will encourage you to make more nutritious eating choices has a positive impact. Nutrition coaching is meeting with someone who supports you in making those choices, and it seems to lead to benefits in terms of reductions in overeating, increases in weight loss, increases in fiber consumption, and even improved mood and mental well-being (Kuller et al., 2007; Menon et al., 2012; Shahnazari et al., 2013; Vale et al., 2003). For all these reasons, meeting with a nutrition coach seems to be a helpful strategy for weight loss and improvement of one’s diet (Dayan et al., 2019).​

Nutritionist vs Dietician

Many nutrition coaches have little training – if you are interested in meeting with somebody with substantial qualifications to help you with your nutritional intake, seeing a dietician is a good option. Nutritionists are people who help others with their eating habits; dieticians do the same thing, but have specialized training and are licensed as well (Jortberg & Fleming, 2014). Dieticians are effective in supporting people with weight management and weight loss, managing diabetes, and improving nutritional intake.​

Nutrition Information

If you would like more information about how scientists conduct nutrition science, you could try watching this video:​

Video: The Science Behind Calories and Nutrition Facts Labels

Quotes on Nutrition

  • “Every time you eat or drink, you are either feeding disease or fighting it.” – Heather Morgan
  • “This is what people don’t understand: obesity is a symptom of poverty. It’s not a lifestyle choice where people are just eating and not exercising. It’s because kids – and this is the problem with the school lunch right now – are getting sugar, fat and empty calories – lots of calories – but no nutrition.” – Tom Colicchio
  • “What most people don’t realize is that food is not just calories; it’s information. It actually contains messages that connect to every cell in the body.” – Dr. Mark Hyman
  • “When you start eating foods without labels, you no longer need to count calories.” – Amanda Kraft
  • “Don’t eat anything your great-great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. There are a great many food-like items in the supermarket your ancestors wouldn’t recognize as food. Stay away from these.” – Michael Pollan
  • “The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.” – Ann Wigmore

Articles Related to Nutrition

​Want to learn more? Check out these articles:

Books Related to Nutrition

If you’d like to keep learning more, here are a few books that you might be interested in.

Final Thoughts on Nutrition​

Our eating habits are very personal for most of us. I know I don’t want anybody judging me every time I choose to eat more peanut butter instead of stir-frying up some vegetables! So I encourage you to think about your nutrition journey as your own experience, not something to be compared to the experiences of others. You have your own tastes and preferences, your own history of learning about food and cooking in childhood; these are your starting points for moving forward with an eye toward even better nutritional intake, not things you should judge or even shame yourself for. There are tons of resources available to help you make the best nutritional choices possible; I hope you find the inspiration to use them as needed.​

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