Food is a fundamental necessity that contains essential nutrients for the growth, repair, and maintenance of body tissues and the regulation of vital processes. Nutrients are measured in calories and are divided into six major groups: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, vitamins, and water. Carbohydrates provide energy for the body, with most coming from plants like cereal grains and potatoes and yams. Sugars, found in fruits, vegetables, and milk, are also carbohydrates. Processed carbohydrates are used in cookies, cakes, breads, pastas, and pies. Fats provide more than twice as much energy as carbohydrates and help protect and insulate the body and its internal organs. Animal products, such as beef, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy products, are high in protein, and grains, nuts, and some beans are protein-rich foods.
Minerals and vitamins are called micronutrients, as they are needed in very small quantities compared to carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Minerals provide building materials for the body and help regulate its activities, much like proteins do. Vitamins help the body make full use of other nutrients by assisting the chemical reactions that make those nutrients work. For example, vitamin B1 or thiamine helps regulate the release of energy from carbohydrates, promotes a healthy appetite, and aids the functioning of the nervous system.
Other essentials for the body's health include water, oxygen, and fiber. Water makes up more than half of a human body's weight and is involved in most body processes, such as temperature regulation, nutrient transport, and waste elimination. Oxygen is not a nutrient but is essential to life, allowing the release of energy from food inside the body. Fiber-rich foods include whole grains, dried beans, and fresh fruits and vegetables.
A healthy diet contains a balanced mix of different foods that together provide all essential nutrients. Malnutrition is the lack of a balanced diet, with too few nutrients, too many nutrients, or an imbalance of nutrients leading to malnutrition. Undernutrition occurs when the body does not get enough food to meet its needs, leading to diseases and even death. To get the right amounts of nutrients, people need to select from a range of food types, such as cereal grains, fruits and vegetables, legumes, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and milk and dairy products.
Cereal grains are the most important food staples worldwide, providing a significant percentage of the calories consumed by the world's population. They are consumed almost daily by large populations and are used for both people and livestock, such as cattle, chickens, and hogs. Wheat is the chief ingredient in most breads, cookies, cakes, crackers, pastas, and some breakfast cereals. Wheat is cultivated in China, the United States, Russia, Ukraine, India, France, and Canada, and is used as bread for people living in regions with temperate climates. Rice, an Asian tropical grass, is a food staple for more than half the world's population, and is also a food staple for people in parts of Africa and Latin America.
Oats and rye are important grains in many regions, with oats used mainly as livestock feed and mixed together in breads. Rye is the second most common grain used as a bread flour, and bread made with rye alone is popular in many European countries. Fruits and vegetables are the edible parts of herbaceous plants, with some plants, called tubers, having a special type of underground stem that can be eaten fresh as a vegetable or used as an ingredient in other dishes.
Legumes, meat, poultry, fish, and eggs are plants that are raised for their edible seeds or seed pods. Pulses are food staples in India and Pakistan, and legumes and pulses contain high amounts of protein, iron, other minerals, and vitamins. Meat is a high-protein food rich in other nutrients, and the United States, Australia, Russia, and Argentina raise much of the world's beef cattle. Beef can come from cows, bulls, or steers, and meat from very young cattle is called veal.
The world's major hog producers include China, the European Union, the United States, Brazil, and Russia. Meat from hogs is called pork, lamb is meat from sheep less than a year old, and mutton is meat from mature sheep. Other sources of meat include buffalo, water buffalo, camels, goats, and yaks. Wild animals, such as rabbits and deer, are also eaten as meat, and game is meat from wild animals.
Poultry refers to domesticated birds that are raised for meat and eggs. Chickens are an important food source for most of the world's population, and raising chickens is a major industry in many countries.
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