www.health.harvard.edu
This article discusses the fundamentals of nutrition, highlighting the importance of a balanced diet for maintaining health and preventing diseases. It addresses the benefits of plant-based diets, the debate over nutritional supplements, and specific nutritional considerations for older adults. Links to further reading on topics such as the best foods for vitamins and minerals and the health benefits of plant-based diets are included.
Main Points
Basics of Nutrition
Nutrition involves consuming a balanced diet of macronutrients and micronutrients to support bodily functions, protect against diseases, and maintain overall health.
Benefits of Plant-Based Diets
Adopting plant-based diets like the Mediterranean-DASH and MIND diets can lead to numerous health benefits, including reduced risk of chronic diseases.
Dietary Supplements
The majority of healthy adults do not need dietary supplements if they maintain a balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
Nutrition for Older Adults
For older adults, ensuring proper nutrition is essential for maintaining energy levels and protecting against age-related diseases.
Insights
Nutrition is about eating a balanced diet to fuel the body, protect against diseases and maintain overall health.
At the most basic level, nutrition is about eating a regular, balanced diet. Good nutrition helps fuel your body. The foods you eat supply the nutrients your body needs to maintain your brain, muscle, bone, nerves, skin, blood circulation, and immune system. Proper nutrition also helps protect you from illness and disease, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and osteoporosis.
Plant-based diets, such as the Mediterranean-DASH and MIND diets, offer numerous health benefits.
For optimal health, science supports following a plant-based diet like the Mediterranean-DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, and MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet. Plant-based diets have been shown to have various health benefits and are linked with a lower risk of heart disease, cancer, and other chronic illnesses.
Nutritional supplements are not always necessary for healthy adults consuming a balanced diet.
Even though supplements are popular, there is limited evidence they offer significant health benefits or help protect against disease. For the average healthy adult, eating a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables provides all the essential vitamins and minerals.
Nutrition plays a crucial role in maintaining energy levels and protecting against illnesses in older adults.
Proper nutrition becomes even more important after men and women reach age 50. It helps keep energy levels up and protects against many age-related illnesses and diseases like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
Links
- vitamins and minerals
- plant-based diet
- Mediterranean-DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet
- fight inflammation
- Nuts
- Olive oil
- probiotics
- Harvard Healthy Eating Plate
- multivitamins
- provides all the essential vitamins and minerals
- protein
- ultra-processed foods
- create healthy meals
URL
https://www.health.harvard.edu/topics/nutrition