Nutrients: Why Do We Need Them? Lesson

Food Label Image Nutrients text annotation indicator (a substance that the human body needs to live and thrive that must be obtained from an outside source) are essential to digestion and life. Nutrients are defined as a substance that the human body needs to live and thrive that must be obtained from an outside source. Nutrients support essential life processes; including basal metabolism, growth and maintenance of body tissues, activity, reproduction, and maintenance of general health. Nutrients are normally obtained by the ingestion of foods or supplements. This means that the body does not make its own nutrients, or at least in large enough quantities to support itself. When we think of nutrients, often we think of healthy substances like water and protein. But, in truth, each nutrient is very important on its own and has one specific function. Because of this, it is vital to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet. The Food and Drug Administration has required that companies provide a breakdown of these nutrients on current food labels.

Dissecting a Food Label

In May 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized the Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts Label and Serving Size and asked for companies to revise their current food label to the new image by July 26, 2018. The new label highlights calories and serving size in a larger font. It has also added " added sugars" to the label. Lastly, the USDA updated the daily values. All of these changes were made to encourage consumers to eat a more healthy diet and be more conscious of food labels.

Food labels and the ability to read them correctly have a big impact on our health, but more importantly, chronic diseases. The information provided on the food label gives the consumer the opportunity to see exactly what is in that product and make a decision about whether to purchase and consume the food. There is a significant rise in chronic diseases in our society over the past few years, especially health-related ones such as type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, stroke, obesity, cardiovascular disease and even cancer. Studies now show that we can prevent these health-related chronic diseases by following a well-balanced, nutritious diet. In order to do this, individuals need to have some basic knowledge about nutrition and be able to understand the significance of proper food label decoding.

The CDC claims that overweight and obesity are associated with at least 13 different types of cancer and that more than half of Americans are unaware these aliments can increase our risk of cancer. Among some of the most important things someone can do to lower their risk is to maintain a healthy weight and avoid tobacco use.

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